A recent Question of the Day— in light of a recent Environmental Integrity Project report — was based on whether Delaware has the worst water quality in the nation.
From ponds and lakes choked with algae to signs warning not to eat too much Delaware seafood, and fish kills in our rivers and bays, Delaware’s polluted water is clear for all to see.
But the question of Delaware’s rank allows enablers of the status quo to quibble about comparisons and ignore the facts. Per the report, 97% of Delaware’s waterways are polluted, including 100% of our bays, harbors, and estuaries — these facts are indisputable.
Who is responsible? The hundreds of thousands of tons of pollutant-laden poultry waste spread on Delaware fields each year are to blame. That’s simply too much waste for any one small state to absorb, and one way or another, that waste makes its way into our waterways, carrying bacteria and harmful chemicals with it.
Food & Water Watch is sounding the alarm on new industry plans to build a poultry waste methane refinery in Sussex County, a facility that will only double down on this pollution. Making industry players rich off our continued pollution, this scheme will truck waste in from three states, only to spread it on our fields and have it run into our water.
Gov. John Carney has the power to stop this dirty project in its tracks. Gov. Carney, it’s time to clean up Delaware’s water, starting with saying no to biogas.
Greg Layton
Delaware organizer, Food & Water Watch
Camden
