Support the EPA's work to protect U.S. streams and wetlands

This is Lake Blackshear, a lake used by many for water recreation in Georgia. Unhealthy levels of viruses and bacteria were found in this lake because a large animal feeding operation discharged liquid manure into the streams that feed the lake. Unfortunately, the EPA struggled to prove jurisdiction over those streams, so they could not proceed with enforcement efforts. This is a case where the clarification is necessary to protect our nation's water.

Photo: Georgia Department of Natural Resources, State Park and Historic Sites.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now accepting comments on their draft Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule – a clarification of the Clean Water Act. The EPA has struggled for many years to enforce pollution of streams and wetlands, in part because several Supreme Court decisions in the early 2000's made doing so more costly and time intensive. This has led to situations like the manure pollution in Lake Blackshear in Georgia (see photo). The new rule will ensure that streams and wetlands are under the EPA's jurisdiction through the Clean Water Act.

Stand with the EPA: Tell them you support clean streams and wetlands, too!

Clarifying jurisdiction is extremely important for a variety of reasons. The EPA tells us:

• It will ensure safe drinking water for one in three Americans (117 million people in the U.S.) that count on seasonal, rain-dependent, and headwater streams for drinking water.
• Not only that, this rule will ensure improved environmental health by trapping floodwaters, recharging groundwater supplies, removing pollution, and providing habitat for fish and wildlife.
• There will also be improved economic health by protecting water for fishing, hunting, agriculture, recreation, energy and manufacturing.
• Finally, if these streams and floodplains are not given protection under the Clean Water Act, nearly 60 percent of stream miles in the U.S. will not be protected from pollution.

Opponents remain un-phased by these benefits to clarifying the Clean Water Act through rule creation. Despite the fact that the proposed rule does not protect any new types of water not historically covered under the Clean Water Act, the agricultural community is raising concerns that agricultural ditches, ponds and puddles will be regulated by the EPA under the proposed rule. This misinformation is unfortunate as the rule proposes reduced jurisdiction and excludes certain ephemeral and intermittent ditches as well as retains all agricultural exemptions and exclusions from Clean Water Act requirements.

On September 9, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 5078: Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act of 2014, a bill to stop this rulemaking and clarification process.

Take action today! Ensure the EPA knows you support clean streams and wetlands.

For more information, check out ProPublica's latest article about WOTUS and visit the EPA's user-friendly information page and their site debunking the misinformation circulating on this project.