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The Recently Weakened Clean Water Act
Submitted by Timothy J. Gobreski
Eastern Pennsylvania Director, Clean Water Action
ou know what the ripple effect is. Drop a pebble in a pond and the ripples are felt far away. This is about the ripple effect of a court decision that happened in Northern Illinois about a small wetland. The decision led to the weakening of the federal Clean Water Act. Because of what happened wetlands, headwaters and smaller waterways throughout the United States are much less protected from pollution.
The Importance of Being a Wetland
 or
an example of the effect of this decision, let's take a quick look
at wetlands. You may know that wetlands play a huge role in the health
of watershed ecosystem. Wetlands are habitat for wildlife, they help
control flooding and they are natural filters as they help clean toxins
out of the water before it gets into the water table and even into
our drinking water. You should also know that our country has lost
most of our wetlands over the last 300 years or so, which means the
ones we have left are very important. We at the watershed level haven't
had to worry an awful lot about protecting wetlands ourselves, because
we have had the full force of the United States Government to help
us out in the form of the Clean Water Act.
The Good Ol' Clean Water Act
 he
Clean Water Act (officially, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act)
was passed in 1972 during the Nixon Administration and set out to
protect our nation's waters. This law has been hailed by many as the
most successful environmental law ever enacted in the U.S. In short,
it sets national standards that all states and municipal governments
must meet in setting laws rules and regulations regarding water quality
protections. No one is allowed to have weaker water protections than
the Clean Water Act. However, in order to be protected under the Clean
Water Act, the water has to meet the definitions of "water" as set
out in Clean Water Act regulations.
ou may think that the water protected by the Clean Water Act should pretty much be most of the water you see flowing by in a stream or in a wetland regardless or whether or not it is connected to a navigable waterway, but it's not true. Changes in Clean Water Act regulations have stripped protection from all water that is not navigable, not connected to navigable waters or is intermittently filled with water (as many wetlands are).
The Pebble Drops in the Pond
 ere's where that court case in the middle of the ripples comes in. In January of 2001 the case of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. The Army Corp of Engineers ended in a decision that basically said the Army Corp. of Engineers couldn't use the Clean Water Act to protect a certain isolated wetland. (See links below for greater details of the court case, now called the "SWANCC Decision")
Ripple One
 n
September of 2002 the Bush Administration said that, based on the
"SWANCC Decision," they wanted to redefine what waters are protected
by the Clean Water Act. According the Administration, all isolated
waterways and wetlands, i.e.: those that are not navigable or connected
to navigable waterways will not fit the definition of U.S. water that
is protected under the Clean Water Act. For a point of reference,
experts estimate that under this proposal 30% or more of waterways
once protected under the Clean Water Act are no longer protected.
hat means that local watershed groups may be in for a lot more work to protect a creek beyond pulling tires from muddy banks and restoring riparian buffers with native species. If there isn't already, there may be a push to build more, bigger industrial facilities, strip malls and golf courses in your watershed if builders don't have all those pesky Clean Water Act regulations to attend to.
Say it Ain't So
 ut, you say, your state will protect it if the Feds don't? Unfortunately most state have relied so heavily on the Clean Water Act to protect their water resources, they do not have any other laws to protect water resources as well as the Clean Water Act. The result is that many waterways are very unprotected from pollution.
Change it Back?
 nvironmentalists
across the country are asking for this rule change to be reversed.
Even some members of Congress are concerned and have introduced and
sponsored legislation that would make the Clean Water Act as strong
as it was when President Nixon signed it. The Clean Water Authority
Restoration Act (S. 473 and HR 962) has been introduced in Congress.
If passed, this would restore federal Clean Water Act protection to
all "waters of the U.S." not just a chosen few.
For more information on this topic check out the following links from some conservation and environmental groups around the country.
 National
Wildlife Federation - Sign On For Clean Water
Ducks
Unlimited - The SWANCC Decision: Implications for Wetlands and Waterfowl
Natural
Resources Defense Council - Wetlands at Risk: Imperiled Treasures
Clean
Water Action - Defend Our Water
Sierra
Club - Clean Water Act
The Watershed
Academy offers a fine overview of the Clean Water Act
See past topics of National Watersheds here!
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