The Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972 with bipartisan support to protect our nation’s waters from pollution and other forms of degradation.
Unfortunately, over the past decade two Supreme Court decisions and policy decisions by the Bush Administration have undercut enforcement of the Act, and left many polluters with the impression that its safeguards were intended only for “navigable” waters, like large rivers. This has left countless wetlands, streams, and lakes vulnerable to pollution.
“We’re not talking about a small amount of waterways. It’s small individually, but in the aggregate, we are talking big numbers.”
Jon Devine is a senior attorney in the Water Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“About two million miles of streams outside of Alaska don’t flow year round. About 40% of permitted facilities in the lower 48 discharge into streams that are either headwater streams or don’t flow year round. And about 20% of over 100 million acres of the nation’s wetlands are considered isolated.”
Current interpretation of the law is ambiguous and messy, making it harder to stop someone from putting toxic substances into a small headwater stream, even though this pollution would ultimately wind up in a large river downstream.
Because of a lack of clarity on its jurisdiction over smaller streams and isolated wetlands, the EPA has focused its Clean Water Act enforcement on large rivers.
Let’s hope the White House can add some administrative clarity to the now cloudy waters that surround the Clean Water Act.
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Web Extra
Full interview with Jon Devine, a senior attorney in the Water Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council…
[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/devine_full_web.mp3|titles=devine_full_web]Photo, taken on September 9, 2006, courtesy of James McCauley via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.