California Love: 40 Years of Clean Water Act Protections

Robyn Fischer — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:52:43 +0000

This Thursday marks the 4oth Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which begs the question: what has the Clean Water Act done for your favorite waters—the very waters you swim in, you fish on, and/or you get your drinking water from? And the answer is quite simple: the Clean Water Act protects them from pollution! For forty fabulous years the Clean Water Act has ensured that America’s waters remain swimmable, drinkable, and fishable, so why stop now?!

Manhattan Beach. Flickr photo by elfidomx.

I am a Californian—I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I attended college in Northern California, and the term ‘hella’ has become a part of my every day vernacular—and I care about clean water. As a child my father would take my brother and me to the southern California beaches, from Santa Barbara to Long beach, we visited them all. Periodically, I would see trash wash up on the shore and I would ask my father why that would occur. He responded by saying, “Well, when it rains all the trash along the street will go into the sewers and then flow to the ocean. But believe me Robyn, it used to be a lot worse.” I could not fathom how such dirty, polluted water could find its way into our pristine waters, but my father was right: prior to the Clean Water Act, our waters, in fact all of America’s waters, were a lot worse.

California’s Waters Depend on the Clean Water Act

In light of two Supreme Court decisions, the scope of the Clean Water Act has been narrowed leaving at least 66% of streams and more than 77,000 acres of scarce wetlands in California at risk of uncontrolled filling and pollution. To protect California’s waters, Clean Water Act protections need to be restored to all wetlands, lakes, and streams throughout the state.

These small and seasonal streams and wetlands trap substantial amounts of nutrients, chemicals, and sediments. They are vital for capturing fertilizers and other run-off from California’s cities and 75,000 farms and ranches. If these pollutants are not filtered out then they will reach downstream waters, increasing drinking water treatment costs and damaging fish and wildlife.

Los Angeles River. Flickr photo by Al Pavangkanan.

Small streams and wetlands also recharge groundwater in the wet season and maintain stream flow in the dry season. EPA reports that seasonal streams are responsible for “a large portion of basin ground-water recharge” in California’s arid and semi-arid regions. Wetlands recharge groundwater at a rate of up to 20% of wetland volume per season, and some forested wetlands can recharge 100,000 gallons of water per acre per day. Recurring droughts and overuse of existing water supplies make protecting these vital recharge areas critical for Californians.

What’s next?

If the small, intermittent streams are not protected then the services they provide will no longer exist. Therefore, Californians may be at risk for increased flooding, drought, nutrient pollution, stormwater runoff and polluted beaches. We can celebrate the success the Clean Water Act has provided us, such as cleaner Californian beaches and streams, but there is still work that needs to be done.

For those of you who care about clean water—I’m looking at you America—help us celebrate 40 years of clean water and push forward for at least 40 more! I know what you’re thinking: “I haven’t even bought a gift, and I don’t even know what I am going to wear to the party!” Don’t worry, those details will work themselves out, but for now the easiest action is to participate in our social media actions this week.

Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over. No words have ever been so true. Fight for America’s waters and ensure that future generations have fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters! Take action and help restore clean water today!

How the Clean Water Act Protects the River of Grass

Glenn Watkins — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:21:47 +0000

“The miracle of light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass.” – Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Everglades (Fifth World Art/Flickr)

America’s Everglades are unlike any other place on earth. A first glance at the general “muck” of the Everglades would reveal grinning alligators lazing in the sun, enormous banana spiders weaving webs directly overhead, and swarming mosquitoes drumming in your ears: a swampy vision summed up in early documentation of the region as a place where a man “would not immigrate…not from hell itself.” Now, while some might still feel that way about South Florida—and I certainly don’t—the fact that the beauty of the Everglades is something that isn’t easily tangible is just part of what makes it so unique. I mean, how amazing is it that it’s the only place on Earth where the American alligator and American crocodile coexist with each other?

Water is the lifeblood of America’s Everglades, the unifying factor that connects the once-vast ecosystem from its headwaters at the Kissimmee River to the most southern tip of Florida and Florida Bay. Sequestered within the tip of South Florida is the Everglades National Park, the last remaining piece of the original Everglades. This ecosystem depends on a constant, slow supply of water in order to function. Since the park is located at the bottom of its watershed, we must protect the water in order to protect the park.

And the Everglades is not a place that South Florida can afford to lose!

My Home, My Everglades

When I saw the “swamp” for the first time, I was in fourth grade and my parents took my family to Big Cypress. I remember at first feeling off put by the decidedly swampy smell, but then being quickly distracted by the bright green sprigs on the cypress trees, decorated by Spanish moss, and by the promise of finding the hidden alligators that were buried among a mask of water plants. I couldn’t believe that this water connected us to points as far away as Miami, the Keys, and Lake Okeechobee.

Learning just how interconnected Florida is with water and the Everglades still blows my mind. My jaw dropped when I learned that I was among the one in every three Floridians who rely on the Everglades ecosystem to provide their water supply. The continued existence of South Florida as we know it all depends on clean water.

The Clean Water Act Protects the Everglades

Over the past 40 years, the Clean Water Act has been instrumental in protecting the health of Florida waters and the Everglades. The Act has helped preserve the tapestry of headwaters, small streams, and wetlands that play an integral role in providing links among the “river of grass” that feeds into the Everglades and on to Florida Bay. Nevertheless, since the early 1900s, much of the Everglades has been neatly partitioned by canals, dams, roadways, and agricultural areas, resulting in the funneling of a large quantity of nutrient pollution to Florida’s canals and coastal waters before it even has a chance to flow through the Everglades. The remaining small streams and wetlands of the Everglades watershed are more important than ever for holding and filtering these pollutants, yet many of them are now at increased risk of losing Clean Water Act protections in the wake of recent court decisions.

In order to reduce the amount of nutrient pollution entering the Everglades and flowing to coastal waters, strong Clean Water Act protections need to be in place.

A Heron flying through the Everglades (milan.boers/Flickr)

There is overwhelming public support for strengthening Clean Water Act guidelines, support that transcends political party affiliations. A recent poll commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation found that 79% of hunters and anglers polled favor restoring Clean Water Act protections to our wetlands and waterways.