Clean Water for Salmon
Pesticides pollute Northwest waters and harm salmon
The spectacular waterways that are home to salmon and steelhead need our help if they are to be the legacy our children and grandchildren so deserve. One invisible risk to our waters, that can no longer be ignored, is widespread pesticide pollution. There are more than one billion pounds of pesticides used in the U.S. every year. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, every waterway sampled across the United States contained pesticides.
In addition to jeopardizing salmon,
these pesticides pose serious risks to public heath
– especially the health of young children. 
EPA has
determined that many of the pesticides that harm salmon are also bad
for people. People can be exposed to pesticides in the water we drink,
the food we eat and even the air we breathe. A number of recent studies
have linked prenatal exposure to certain insecticides with behavioral
problems, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Other studies have linked exposure of certain pesticides with an
increased
risk of brain cancer in children and the cancer non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
in farmers.
The government must ensure the
pesticides
it regulates don’t harm salmon
Current regulations are inadequate
to protect the waters that support threatened and endangered salmon
and steelhead from pesticides. The National Marine Fisheries Service
includes pesticide contamination as a major factor in the decline of
salmon runs in many of the west’s once-abundant salmon producing rivers.
Still, for more than two decades the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency
(EPA) has failed to meet its Endangered Species Act (ESA) responsibility
to ensure the pesticides it regulates don’t harm salmon.
Holding government and industry accountable
Unwilling to wait for EPA to act, NCAP initiated
the Clean Water for Salmon Campaign
to prompt EPA to fulfill Our persistence is paying off. NCAP
and our allies have successfully prompted NMFS to prescribe new
protections
to keep pesticides out of rivers and streams home to endangered salmon
populations. Pesticide manufacturers are
aggressively
working in the courts and in Congress to halt the implementation of
these protections. NCAP is continuing to counter their
efforts
thus ensure EPA imposes new regulations to protect the habitat of
endangered
salmon and steelhead from pesticides. Our work has set a strong precedent
to protect wildlife from pesticides. Other organizations are relying
on our progress to protect wildlife as diverse as shore birds,
butterflies
and fox. 
basic ESA responsibilities to keep harmful
pesticides out of salmon waters.
