Press Release: New Clean Water Standards “An Important Step Forward” According to Environmental Law & Policy Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday May 27, 2015

New Clean Water Standards “An Important Step Forward” According to
Environmental Law & Policy Center

CHICAGO – Today, the Obama Administration issued new clean water standards that are an important step forward to protect safe drinking water and healthier community rivers, streams and wetlands in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. ELPC and many of our allies across the nation have worked to achieve these new standards for many years. These standards have been informed by public input, are well grounded in the law, and are based on sound science.

“The Obama Administration’s new clean water standards are an important step forward to protect safe drinking water and healthier community rivers, streams and wetlands in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds,” said Howard Learner, Executive Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Among the public, clean water has strong bipartisan support. Let’s work together in Midwest communities to advance these sensible clean water standards and make them work well going forward.”

The U.S. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized the clean water standards that were left unclear after two U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006. The new standards now provide clarity on protections under the Clean Water Act.

Creeks, brooks and streams make up more than half the river-miles in the nation and flow into larger waterways like rivers and lakes. They also provide vital services, like filtering pollution, reducing the risk of flooding and providing important wildlife habitat.

Water resources are so interconnected that in order to protect our celebrated waterways – the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes – we also need to protect the backyard brooks, community creeks and steady streams that feed them. That’s what these new clean water standards accomplish.

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