Clean Water Act
Clean Water Act
Renew commitment to its protections
Clean water is a bipartisan issue with a long history of bipartisan support. Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 with the broad bipartisan support of two-thirds of Congress.
Congress passed the Clean Water Act with the goal of ending the use of our nation’s waters for discharge of pollutants by 1985.
Clearly we have missed that goal by a longshot, though we have made great progress in cleaning up our waterways for swimming, fishing and drinking water.
Still, industrial pollution, toxic dumping, sewage overflows, extreme energy extraction and many more problems continue to threaten the waters on which our families and communities rely. And today, many of our crucial waters are being denied the act’s protections against pollution.
We must call upon our elected officials to renew our nation’s commitment to the goal of ending the use of our nation’s waters for the discharge of pollutants to ensure that all waters of the United States are protected and to work to make all our waters swimmable, fishable and drinkable.
These fundamental goals of the Clean Water Act should have overwhelming bipartisan support, as the act’s initial passage had, because they are crucial to public health, well-being and local economies all across the nation.
Kathryn Reynolds
Kailua-Kona