Learn more about the Clean Water Restoration Act

This Week in the News

January 28, 2009
Report Shows Tennessee Waters at High Risk of Pollution, Destruction

A new report [link to report] shows that up to 60 percent of Tennessee’s stream miles and half of its 787,000 remaining acres of wetlands may no longer be protected from pollution and destruction under the Clean Water Act. Two major Supreme Court cases and subsequent agency guidance have severely weakened federal Clean Water Act protections in Tennessee and have fueled efforts to weaken state water quality laws.

While Tennessee has state level protections for many waters, industry groups have already used the uncertainty regarding federal protections to weaken these state laws. It is almost certain that as long as federal protections remain mired in confusion, attacks on state-level protections will continue.

According to Jim Murphy, National wildlife Federation wetlands and water resources counsel, “Tennessee has some of the most rapidly developing counties in the nation. Development pressure coupled with the increased stresses climate change will place on Tennessee’s waters bode poorly for Tennessee’s children’s ability to enjoy clean water and healthy wildlife unless basic Clean Water Act protections are restored.”

To download the report click here.

Click here to read Chattanoogan.com’s coverage of the report.

December 7, 2009
Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show

According to a December 8 New York Times article, over the last five years the drinking water for 49 million Americans was contaminated when it reached their taps. This data reinforces the need for legislation to protect the smaller streams that filter water and feed many of our drinking water supplies. We can’t keep our water clean by treatment alone; we must protect these source areas from pollution.

October 20, 2009
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Holds Clean Water Act Enforcement Hearing

On Thursday, October 15, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing marking the 37th anniversary of the passage of the Clean Water Act. Eleven witnesses, including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, spoke about the current state of Clean Water Act enforcement.

At the hearing, Administrator Jackson drew a clear connection between restoring Clean Water Act protections and the EPA's poor enforcement record, saying "enforcement is made harder when you don't know if you have jurisdiction."

Administrator Jackson made a plea to the Representatives on the Committee and to Congress as a whole to reestablish historic Clean Water Act protections, acknowledging that only Congress has the power to restore this power to EPA, and guarantee everyone's right to clean water.

Read more about the hearing.

October 9, 2009
More than 1/3 of Americans' Drinking Waters at Risk

According to a recently released Environmental Protection Agency report 117 million Americans' drinking water is supplied by smaller streams, which no longer fall under the Clean Water Act.

According to the EPA's data:

• As many as 1/3 of residents in Maine may be affected by polluted streams.
• Water supplies for 620,000 Coloradans are at risk.
• Over 1.8 million residents in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania drink water fed by vulnerable streams.
• In Washtenaw and Lenawee counties in Michigan approximately 140,000 residents could receive drinking water from contaminated streams.

About the Clean Water Restoration Act

The Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, sought to protect America's surface water bodies from pollution and degradation. Recent case decisions in the Supreme Court have compromised that protection.

Clean water fuels our existence. We need it to drink, to grow our food and to sustain our outdoor lifestyles (swimming, boating, and fishing). It is absolutely vital to the health of wildlife and their habitat. The Clean Water Restoration Act is urgently needed to keep our remaining wetlands, streams, lakes, and rivers safe and pollution-free.

Authors of the Clean Water Restoration Act are proposing to remove the term “navigable” as it describes protected waters—but not so the Federal Government will regulate every puddle, bird bath, and swimming pool!  (Humorous hyperbole, but it's just not true.)  Instead, they’re acknowledging an undisputed truth recognized by the authors of the original Clean Water Act in 1972: water flows—across roads, through wetlands, into rivers, and across political boundaries. For almost 30 years, until the 2001 Supreme Court decision, most non-navigable waters were protected because unless we prevent pollution at its source, in the non-navigable headwaters and wetlands of each watershed, we cannot possibly "restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters," the critically important goal of the Clean Water Act. Simply regulating "navigable" waters will never maintain and restore our water supplies.

Courting Disaster: How the Supreme Court Has Broken the Clean Water Act and Why Congress Must Fix It

Case studies and specific examples of how the Clean Water Act has been misused demonstrates the mounting risk to America's water bodies. This report describes where the system is breaking and how the Clean Water Restoration can repair it.

Download the report

What's Happening In Congress:

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing, The Clean Water Act after 37 Years: Recommitting to the Protection of the Nation's Waters, on October 15th. 

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed an amended version of the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787) in June.

Read more CWRA updates.

In the Media

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson testifies that Clean Water Act enforcement is compromised

Will We Continue to Protect Salmon?

Under Threat: Waters Where it All Begins
John Hottinger, Former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader

PublicNewsService.org -- PA Waters Like 'Arteries Without Capillaries'  

Resources

The Obama administration urges Congress to enact the Clean Water Restoration Act

The Baucus-Klobuchar-Boxer amendment (S. 787) as passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on June 18, 2009 (pdf)

The Baucus-Klobuchar-Boxer Amendment Explained (pdf)

What's at Stake? - Why Congress Must Restore Clean Water Act Protections (pdf)

Global Warming and the CWRA (pdf)

Field and Stream article (May 2009)  "Stopping the Fire" by Bob Marshall (pdf)

What Else Can I Do?

• Tell your Members of Congress to vote to restore the Clean Water Act!
• Submit a Letter to the Editor of your local paper. Highlight that clean wetlands and streams are essential for safe drinking water supplies, flood and pollution control, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation.


• Send a letter from your organization (or a joint letter from several organizations) to your congressional delegation urging them to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act.


• Urge your Governor and water quality and natural resource agencies to ask your congressional delegation to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act.


• Go to wearewetlands.org and sign the petition to protect America's wetlands