Environmental Watchdog

Baykeeper defends the health of San Francisco Bay, its watershed, and Bay Area residents. Baykeeper is a non-profit organization whose field investigators and scientists patrol the Bay to catch polluters and uncover threats. The NGO’s lawyers and policy advocates hold polluters accountable and require government agencies to strengthen and enforce the laws. The organization also works to reverse the environmental degradation of the past and promote new strategies and policies to protect the water quality of the San Francisco Bay. Today’s threats include oil spills, trash, harmful algae blooms, industrial pollution, the Oakland coal terminal, diminished freshwater flows to the Bay, and more. But perhaps one of the greatest threats to everything on the bayshore is climate change and sea level rise. Of particular concern to Baykeeper is the projected flooding of sewage treatment plants and industrial brownfields full of toxic chemicals and waste that could be washed back into the Bay.  Building nature-based buffers around the region’s wastewater treatment facilities is one current Baykeeper priority.