The Regional Water Quality Control Plant at Palo Alto and non-profit Save the Bay - the oldest and largest membership organization working to protect and restore the bay - launched the Clean Bay Campaign March 1 to raise public awareness of water quality and restoration of the Baylands.

Representatives from the area communities, including Jocelyn Orr and Linda DeMichiel from the Los Altos Environmental Committee, took an informational canoe tour from the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve through the affected area that graphically demonstrated the need to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the bay.

Forty percent of California’s rivers and streams drain into the San Francisco Bay watershed, according to water quality officials. Joining the fresh waters, however, is 100 percent of the water used by the communities along the bay.

Garden and rain runoff containing toxic pesticides enters the creeks and flows directly into the bay without treatment, water officials said. Every drop of water that goes down the drains of the houses and businesses of the watershed populations is cleaned of bio-waste by the Regional Water Quality Control Plant at Palo Alto and then discharged into the bay.

By adjusting their day-to-day choices, area residents can greatly impact watershed pollution. Proper disposal of household medications, cooking oil and auto fluids is easy to accomplish in this area, yet fewer than 10 percent of California households take advantage of household hazardous waste disposal programs, according to the Association of California Water Agencies.

The regional water plant, operated by the city of Palo Alto with partners Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View, processes 25 million gallons a day, removing 90 percent of the organic and solid pollutants and reducing the quantity of metals remaining in the discharge.

But population growth and expanding industry in the South Bay continue to increase the pollutants poured into bay waters. The Clean Bay Campaign encourages an informed community to protect the bay by using the recycling and disposal resources available.

For more information, visit the Clean Bay Campaign at www.cleanbay.org; Save the Bay at savesfbay.org and the Regional Water Quality Control Plant at www.parwqcp.org.