Congress revisits the Clean Water Act

by Darrell Gerber and Myrna Poticha

originally published in The Denver Post, April 15, 2008

As spring's welcome beauty flows to summer's sun, their climate
cousins flood, drought and storms will likely be paying us a call as
well. So whether you fish, swim or just drink it, April is a good time
to be thinking about water and that's what the U.S. Congress is doing.

With climate change, global warming solutions and their impacts on
America's waters as backdrop, Congress this month is taking a serious
look at our pre-eminent water quality law - the Clean Water Act. For 31
years, the Clean Water Act protected all of the nation's waters-as
Congress intended.

But in 2003 the Bush administration gave in to polluter pressure and
brazenly redefined the meaning of water, putting nearly 60 percent of
the country's streams at risk.

This means that 68 percent of Colorado's streams fell off the
federal Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) map for protection
under the Clean Water Act's programs. This happened through a
bureaucratic device called a 'guidance," when the EPA instructed
federal environmental law enforcers to back off from holding many
polluters accountable. If the water they pollute happens to be a stream
or river that doesn't flow year-round or directly into a bigger stream
or river that can be navigated it may no longer be protected.

That describes many of Colorado's isolated high mountain rivulets,
which may trickle into montane wetland systems or isolated bogs which
are the cradle for much of our mountain wildlife.

On April 16, a key congressional committee will take up the proposed
Clean Water Restoration Act, a bipartisan bill authored by Rep. James
Oberstar, D-Minn., and co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette. Hanging in
the balance at this hearing before the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee-the first ever on the bill itself-are
safeguards to drinking water sources for more than 111 million
Americans, including more than 3.5 million Coloradans. The U.S. Senate
held a hearing on the bill April 9.

Since its passage in 1972, the Clean Water Act's multiple programs
have been responsible for tremendous progress in curbing pollution and
restoring waterways to health. In recent years, however, the Clean
Water Act has been under assault by special interests intent on
weakening it.

The critical question before Congress is this: What do we mean when we say we want to keep ALL of our nation's water clean?

Some would like to allow pollution to be dumped directly into all
but the largest bodies of water. This means going against basic
knowledge of how water - and pollution - moves through streams,
wetlands, lakes and rivers. It also means going against what we know
about the important roles healthy streams, wetlands, lakes and rivers
play to help prevent flooding, filter pollutants and protect us against
drought.

All of these important functions will become even more critical as
we are faced with the impacts of global warming. We know that increased
temperatures and sea level rise will alter the water cycle, causing
instances of both too much and not enough water - flooding and drought.

The solution is simple. The Clean Water Restoration Act clarifies that
Congress intended the Clean Water Act to protect ALL of our nation's
waters. Given that water quantity and quality challenges new and old
are front and center this spring, now is the time to get our clean
water house in order and pass the Clean Water Restoration Act.

Clean Water Action's Darrell Gerber is scheduled to
testify on April 16 before the U.S. House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee. Myrna Poticha serves on Clean Water Action's
national board of directors.