State Water Board to take public testimony on widespread contamination of the nationally important Smith River
On October 8, 2025, the full North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold a public meeting in Crescent City to take testimony on widespread pesticide contamination of the Smith River estuary.
Please make your voice heard! We need the public to tell the Water Board: End toxic pesticide contamination of the Smith River estuary.
The meeting:
- Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2025
- Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 981 H Street, Crescent City Room 100
To attend remotely click here.
For decades pesticide-intensive farming of Easter lily bulbs on the Smith River Plain has contaminated groundwater and surface waters of the Smith River estuary, threatening the health of wildlife and humans along one of California’s healthiest, most ecologically pristine rivers.
For more information, see the recent press release issued by Siskiyou Land Conservancy and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
For more information on pesticide contamination of the Smith River estuary, see Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s 40-year historical report. You can also read our comments on the Water Board’s draft “permit” for lily growers to continue using some of the most toxic pesticides allowed for use in California.