Berkeley City Council "Containment Zone" Brownfield Policy decision has historically become the most important environmental action yet to be undertaken taken by the "ECO City". Unfortunately, the SFRWQCB, who had championed the NO cleanup "Containment" Policy simply ignored Berkeley's concerns. Several Years later the water board moved ahead to decertify the East Bay (and Berkeley) groundwater resources.

Speakers include:
Steve Belcher, Berkeley City Manager
Nabi Al-Hadithy, Berkeley Toxics Manager
Dona Spring, Berkeley City Council
L A Wood, Berkeley Citizen
Steve Morse, SFRWQCB
Steve Hill, BAAQMD

Produced by Berkeley Citizen
Copyright 2000
All labor donated

NOTE: Final Public Hearing of the San Francisco Regional Water Control Board on the amendments to SB 92-49 and the SF Basin Groundwater Plan that includes the East Bay watershed and Berkeley.The hearing was composed of a short presentation by the San Francisco Regional Water Board staff. But more important were the public comments and staff comments that followed, exposing the real impacts of the Board’s revised Environmental Clean-up Policy.

The Water Board’s approval of the amendments to the Basin Plan marked a serious divergence from the CAL EPA decades-long promises to implement incremental environmental clean-ups of contaminated sites and their commitment to groundwater and public health. This shift in clean-up policies was driven by industry, dismissing any recognition of the many beneficial uses for our groundwater resources in the East Bay, including Berkeley. As a consequence, it has turned parts of the SF/Berkeley Basin into one big brownfield zone of pollution disguised by the misleading term: “Containment” Zones.  April 19, 2000 SFRWQCB Adopted Order No. 00-25