Thursday, March 2, 2017

Water At Risk Under The Trump Administration

It's no surprise that the Waters of the United States, WOTUS, are in danger under the Trump administration. Here's an article that highlights the concern on this topic:


Photo: Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures

The Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule: What It Is and Why It's Important

President Trump has ordered the EPA to begin reviewing the rule that governs how the agency protects waterways. Here's what WOTUS means to wildlife and people alike. 

"Keep navigable waters clean." It sounds straightforward, but in practice it's anything but. For decades, the Environmental Protection Agency has struggled with that task, after the Clean Water Act in 1972 gave them the authority to regulate "navigable waters." But "navigable" doesn't cover small streams and wetlands, and water in those areas has a habit of flowing downhill into other, larger bodies of water. Whether the EPA could regulate all that water before it reached someplace navigable was never clear.

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