A report from the Environmental Integrity Project shows Delaware with the nation’s highest percentage of impaired streams 50 years after the passage of the Clean Water Act.
According to the report, Delaware has the highest percentage of its rivers and streams classified as impaired in the U.S., with 97 percent of the nation’s second-smallest state’s 1,104 miles of waterways listed as impaired for one or more uses.
Impaired steams affect aquatic life, drinking water, water recreation, and fish consumption.
The report pointed to the state’s chemical industry, chicken plants (slaughterhouses), and suburban sprawl (excessive fertilizer use) as factors
The report also indicates all of its 775 square miles of assessed estuaries are impaired.
The report noted the $65 million payouts by poultry processor Mountaire to residents living near its Millsboro plant.
“Too many people here have no access to clean water coming out of the tap, especially in our poor and minority communities,” said Maria Payan, an activist with the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. “The fact that Delaware has the highest percentage of impaired rivers and streams in all of the U.S. shows there is a clear failure to protect public health here.”
Some improvements are expected from federal infrastructure legislation with DuPont and other companies settling pollution cases.
Delaware also passed clean water legislation. Earlier, Gov. Jack Markell proposed a property assessment as part of a clean water funding measure. That measure went nowhere.
Click here for the full report.
