Dear CLF Supporter,

New England’s waters are in crisis. Nutrient pollution is a huge problem for our region; inadequately-treated wastewater, fertilizer-laden runoff from industrial farms, roadways, and sprawl development are fueling deadly algae blooms in some of our most cherished waters—like Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, Cape Cod’s bay and estuaries, and the Great Bay, located between New Hampshire and Maine. These algae blooms suffocate and kill fish, shellfish and other aquatic life, creating vast “dead zones.”

Nutrient pollution is bad news. But there is a silver lining to this scummy, man-made problem: It’s solvable. For years, CLF has been working to reverse nutrient pollution in waters throughout New England. And there’s even more good news; today, you have the opportunity to make a REAL impact on nutrient pollution by symbolically adopting a mile of shoreline for $10:

Adopting a mile of shoreline may seem like a drop in the bucket, but it gives CLF and our advocates the resources we need to tackle and solve this problem; it is the very underpinning of our most crucial clean water work.

When you adopt a mile of shoreline for $10, you will fund:

• Lake Champlain LakeKeeper Program: CLF’s LakeKeeper, affiliated with the Waterkeeper Alliance, is the eyes and ears of Lake Champlain, dedicated to protecting this irreplaceable natural treasure. Part watchdog, part scientist and part public advocate, the LakeKeeper engages citizens, businesses and state and local authorities in doing their part to keep Lake Champlain clean.
• Clean Water Enforcement: All over New England, violation of water quality regulations is rampant, resulting in severely degraded waterways. Due to a combination of lax government oversight and insufficient resources, clean water can no longer be taken for granted. This is especially true in low-income communities, which bear a disproportionate burden of water pollution. CLF is putting feet on the ground to hold polluters accountable, wherever they are, for compliance with clean water laws in an effort to restore vital water quality to all New Englanders.
• Nutrient Pollution Advocacy: Nutrient pollution is a relatively recent, man-made scourge—an insidious by-product of industrial agriculture and wastewater treatment operations—that is threatening New England’s great salt and freshwater bodies. It is also entirely solvable. CLF is tirelessly pursuing up-to-date, science-based limits on how much nitrogen and phosphorus can be discharged without sacrificing water quality and stricter controls at the source to keep the pollutants out of our waterways.

Nutrient pollution is a solvable problem and CLF is securing important victories all across our region. In Vermont, as a result of CLF’s advocacy, the city of South Burlington voluntarily cut in half the nutrient pollution that could be discharged into Lake Champlain from its sewage treatment plant. In Massachusetts, the EPA introduced controls for nitrogen in the 2008 permit for the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, over the objections of the district. The permit was recently upheld despite continued pressure from the district. The bottom line: Nutrient pollution, with your support, is a problem that we can solve!

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking. Literally. We are quickly approaching the point of no return for some of our region’s more fragile waterways. We need you to act now, before our October 8 deadline, to reverse nutrient pollution in New England. It takes just $10.

Today, you can make a real difference in New England’s nutrient pollution crisis by adopting one mile (or more!) of shoreline. We’re counting on you.

Sincerely,

Chris Kilian

P.S. Please click the “like” button below to share this important message with your friends on Facebook!

According to an April 2008 National Science Foundation press release discussing the findings of a Russian/American scientific collaboration, even the world’s largest freshwater lake–Siberia’s Lake Baikal–is feeling the effects of a changing climate and not in a good way.  Drawing on sixty years worth of data collected under grueling weather conditions (negative 50!) throughout the tumult of 20th century Russia, researchers document long-term warming trends that are changing the lake’s pristine waters and unique habitat. We’re talking about global warming affecting the health of a 25-million year-old lake that contains 20% of the world’s fresh water and 2500 plant and animal species that make their home there but nowhere else.

Global climate change threatens the pristine waters of Siberia's Lake Baikal--the world's largest freshwater lake. That's bad news for much smaller and less-resilient lakes like Lake Champlain. (Image source National Science Foundation, Nicholas Rodenhouse)

Closer to home, CLF has been making the case that global climate change is aggravating pollution and food web problems in Lake Champlain–one of the ten largest fresh water lakes in the United States.

For decades, many agencies of the United States government including the Environmental Protection Agency have produced studies warning that global climate change will likely make water pollution problems worse because we can expect:

• “warming water temperatures to change contaminant concentrations in water and alter aquatic system uses”
• “new patterns of rainfall and snowfall to alter water supply for drinking and other uses leading to changes in pollution levels in aquatic systems, and” (editor’s note–this summer sure seems like we’re seeing a new rainfall pattern in New England)
• “more intense storms to threaten water infrastructure and increase polluted stormwater runoff”

–EPA National Water Program Strategy Response to Climate Change

The Lake Baikal study is further confirmation that global warming and water quality issues are deeply intertwined.  It should serve as a wake-up call to government officials charged with cleaning up and preventing pollution because “[t]his lake was expected to be among those most resistant to climate change, due to its tremendous volume and unique water circulation.” If climate change is affecting Baikal, it’s certainly affecting Lake Champlain and other freshwater bodies throughout New England (not to mention the major impacts on our Oceans).

While we must do all we can to slow down and reverse the worst of what global climate change will bring–an effort CLF is leading in New England–it’s long past time to start factoring the reality of ongoing climate change into predictions about water pollution and decisions about pollution prevention and cleanup.

EPA had that chance when it reviewed and approved Vermont’s proposed phosphorus pollution cleanup target–or Total Maximum Daily Load– for Lake Champlain in 2002.  It had plenty of its own research that could have and should have shaped important decisions regarding:

• the amount of pollution reduction needed
• the likely effectiveness of different proposed pollution cleanup activities
• the likely cost of cleanup and prevention activities

Despite all the global climate change studies EPA and the U.S. Government had created with your tax money–EPA failed entirely to factor climate change into the water quality equation for Lake Champlain. That’s why CLF has filed a lawsuit in federal court to hold EPA accountable for this failure before it’s too late for Lake Champlain.  What good is scientific research if you don’t use it to shape decisions in the real world?  Click here to read a copy of the complaint and stay tuned for updates as the case moves forward.