Although Michigan's lakes, rivers and streams still have some protections against damaging water exports, court decisions trigged by lawsuits from international water companies have eroded our rights to control what happens to our groundwater, the lifeblood of the entire Great Lakes system.

Our California program works with communities in the San Joaquin Valley that have contaminated drinking water. Most communities rely on groundwater for their drinking water supply. Throughout the Valley, extensive and ancient groundwater deposits are being depleted and contaminated with runoff from farms, dairies and other animal feeding operations, food processing plants, sewage and septic systems. In addition, naturally occurring contaminants like arsenic, manganese, and uranium also contaminate groundwater as a result of wasteful irrigation practices of agricultural operations.

2008 was a banner year for clean energy in Massachusetts. Clean Water Action, our members and local partners helped lead the charge for three new laws that bring great promise to the development of clean energy in our state:

* The Global Warming Solutions Act mandates a long-term plan of action to reduce global warming pollution in Massachusetts up to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050.  

Rhode Island is at Risk

• Exposure to diesel particulate matter increases emergency room visits for asthma and heart attacks, lung cancer and even premature death. Diesel pollution alscontributes to chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, and decreased lung growth for children.
• 1 in 10 Rhode Island kids has asthma, and it is proven that diesel pollution can aggravate and cause asthma attacks.
• Providence County ranks in the worst 6% of all U.S.
  Contact Name: 

  Nicole Poepping
  Contact Phone: 

  1 401-331-6972
  Contact Email: 

  npoepping@cleanwater.org

That's what a large statewide coalition of businesses, communities, faith-based groups, environmental organizations, labor unions, everyday working families and your neighbors are working together to do today.

Michigan is at a crossroads and the time for positive change is now.

That's why we're coming together: to ReEnergize Michigan!, with more renewable energy, more energy efficiency - and more clean energy jobs.

As California enters its third consecutive dry year, water conservation is a popular topic - television, newspapers, billboards, and radio messages are telling us to conserve water because of the drought.

Clean Water Action agrees that we should practice additional conservation during times of drought. But California's is a dry climate that is expected to become dryer still as the impacts of climate change intensify. This drought gives us an opportunity to rethink our attitudes about and our overall use of water.

Tidal Wave of Waste

Manufacturing Waste

Local Governments Left Holding the (Trash) Bag

When local governments took on responsibility for solid waste more than a century ago, household waste was primarily coal ash left over from heating and cooking. The rest was mainly food and a small amount of simple manufactured products like paper and glass. Today manufactured products and their packaging make up 75% of what we throw away.

Business as usual has meant that most manufacturers don't pay anything to cover the costs of waste disposal. In fact, they're designing products to be thrown away- and taxpayers are picking up the tab. The demands of waste management and recycling have changed with time. Local governments today are stuck with ever increasing costs for the recycling and disposal of computers, cameras, pharmaceuticals, batteries, and countless other consumer products.

Diesel Pollution is Making Us Sick

Diesel engines are the workhorses of our economy, found in everything from ships and trains to school and city buses, construction and agricultural vehicles, long-haul trucks and many other vehicles that keep our economy humming. However, the black exhaust that pours out of diesel vehicles is a silent killer, contributing to 21,000 early deaths in the United States each year.

Diesel emissions have been shown to have 7 times the lifetime cancer risk than that posed by all the other 181 hazardous air pollutants combined.

Take Action today!

Along with our partners in the Alliance for Healthy Air, Clean Water Action is spearheading a statewide effort to reduce harmful diesel emissions by up to 90 percent.

Let's make it safer for all fish consumers, and let's do it sooner!

The Central Valley Regional Water Board will decide on adopting a draft clean-up plan, known as a TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load), this summer to address mercury pollution in the Delta.

The proposed plan has both positive and negative features and we need your help to ensure that we keep the beneficial aspects and correct the flaws. Specifically, Clean Water Action supports the plan's focus on methylmercury (the form that collects in living things so that people are exposed by eating highly contaminated fish).