Two coastal advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld, accusing the theme park of polluting Mission Bay with toxic chemicals from its evening fireworks displays.

The announcement follows a year-long study published last month by one of the groups that says water in the bay is a risk to public health.

San Diego Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation filed the federal lawsuit against SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment on March 6, alleging the park has violated the Clean Water Act as well as discharged more wastewater into the bay than its waste discharge permit allows.

Coastkeeper carried out tests in 10 locations throughout the bay, including a location near the theme park’s fireworks barge where they found elevated levels of copper, a heavy metal found in fireworks. They also found fecal bacteria and other pollutants such as phosphorus throughout the bay that repeatedly surpassed state water quality thresholds.

Elevated levels of copper can harm the growth and reproduction of marine life.

The City of San Diego’s website says Mission Bay Park is the “largest aquatic park of its kind in the country,” serving 15 million visitors annually who use the park for a variety of recreational activities.

It also contains sensitive wetland and marine habitats home to endangered species, some of which can be found at Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, a protected area on the north end of the bay.

Polluted waters in Mission Bay are nothing new. Since 2016 the City of San Diego has been carrying out its own testing program with the aim of improving water quality in the area. Coastkeeper’s report provides additional data and offers analyses of how often their tests show the water fails state limits – for many indicators it’s a majority of the time.

In an interview with inewsource, Phillip Musegaas, Coastkeeper’s executive director, said that he is concerned about the overall health of the bay. In addition to the lawsuit against Seaworld, he said the city’s failing wastewater infrastructure is contributing to pollution in other parts of the bay.

A spokesperson for the City of San Diego said that staff are comparing their own results to Coastkeeper’s study.

“The City welcomes and applauds the efforts of citizen groups to collect information that helps characterize water quality throughout the City,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. 

The lawsuit against SeaWorld says that debris alone endangers wildlife and that the noise and air pollution disturb sensitive habitats.

During a dive near the firework barge members of CERF said they found the seafloor covered with firework waste including wires, foil, and shattered plastic ignitors among sensitive seagrasses.

“SeaWorld’s reckless disregard for its environmental obligations threatens the health of Mission Bay and the people and wildlife that rely on it, and contradicts the company’s stated mission to conserve wildlife worldwide,” said Musegaas in a press brief.

A SeaWorld spokesperson said it would not comment on ongoing litigation.

“The bay is under a lot of stress from a variety of sources,” Musegaas said.

He said the studies Coastkeeper published are first results of a community-powered water monitoring program in Mission Bay. He and partners plan to publish results yearly. Apart from firework debris he says other sources likely impacting the bay are brake pad dust from nearby interstates, pollution from watercrafts, as well as chemical and industrial runoff from storm water systems.

“We are much more effective when we can point to data to support the need for public investment in infrastructure, or the need for SeaWorld to transition out of its obviously old- fashioned fireworks displays.”

The San Diego Bird Alliance and the San Diego Audubon Society have been working for years to expand protections for the habitat through its ReWild Mission Bay initiative. The groups sent a letter to SeaWorld last Fourth of July saying that firework festivities caused the deaths of nesting terns in the bay, as reported by Voice of San Diego.

Andrew Meyer, conservation director at San Diego Bird Alliance, said the findings from Coastkeeper are bittersweet news. 

“It’s great to have such in-depth community science data but it’s not what we want to hear about a place that’s so important for humans, endangered birds and other wildlife,” Meyer said.

In addition to complying with their permits, SeaWorld should pay for environmental damages to the bay, the advocacy groups say. They also want SeaWorld to transition to entertainment that has less environmental impacts such as drone light shows.