Water Quality Won On Local Level
By
David E. Wilson, Jr.
Photos by: David E. Wilson, Jr
 t
this, the 31st anniversary of the landmark law that created mandates
for recovery of the nation's beleaguered waterways, the EPA announced
last month that for the first time since the Clean Water Act was
passed, the nations waterways have actually become more polluted.
And it is not just political rollbacks, loopholes, and kickbacks
that are to blame.
 n
1972, a groundswell of support for undoing the violations in the
public trust committed by individuals and industries created the
act which was designed to eliminate the abominable pollution and
serious fisheries and habitat declines the country's streams, rivers
and estuaries were facing. Like every law written today, its very
essence was to restrict the behaviors of some for the common good
of many.
 he
act established what today is the basic structure for regulating
discharges of pollutants in the United States. This structure included
oversight of wetland protection, sewage treatment, navigation rules,
point source discharges, oil pollution, ocean dumping, reef protection,
water monitoring and estuary restoration.
t
the time the bill was passed, millions of fish were washing ashore
monthly in river and bays, drinking water was fouled, public beaches
were regularly closed, the United States was losing half a million
acres of wetlands a year, and industry was using the nation's rivers
and streams as its own personal disposal system.
 hen
Ohio's Cuyahoga River burst into flames in 1969, it became the poster
child for just how badly a few could violate the public trust. Thirty
years later, one-third of our waterways are still unsafe for swimming
or fishing.
ronically,
industry is no longer the primary polluter of our estuaries. The
masses who live, work, and build there are. Deforestation, urban
sprawl, and the accompanying loss of wildlife habitat and nutrient
uptake by natural land is fueling a reversal in the trend seen for
the past 30 years. We are loving our waterways to death.
he
individuals who rallied around their waterways are now at the precipice
where they will decide whether their eruption of caring 30 years
ago was more than just finger pointing. Today, sprawl is the number
one problem facing our rivers and coasts and individuals at the
local level are the ones who can do something about it. With boroughs,
townships, cities, and counties zoning independently of one another,
the federal government has so far avoided the political debacle
of growth control.
his means where we live, how we live, and who we elect on the local level will mean everything for the health of our estuaries' future. We are at a crossroads where we will decide whether to liquidate our remaining assets for short-term desires or protect what remains for the long-term.
 or
its anniversary, we should remember the tools the Clean Water Act
gave us to allow us to get where we are today. But while lamenting
the draconian policies coming from the White House, we must recognize
that the last leg of the trip belongs to us.
Contact Dave Wilson
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