Today, October 18th, marks the 39th anniversary of the passage of the Clean Water Act. It is through the Clean Water Act that local residents and citizen groups like Potomac Riverkeeper are empowered to protect their communities’ rights to safe, clean water. Truly, few laws so fully embody the American notion of justice for all. 

 

It was no easy feat enacting legislation to protect citizens’ rights to safe, clean water. Congress had to override a presidential veto and it wasn’t even until 1977 that the body of legislation, The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, was retroactively named the Clean Water Act. In its time, the Clean Water Act has been strengthened by some bills, weakened by others, and has seen victories and defeats in the judicial system. Yet through all this, it remains stalwart as the strongest defender of rivers and streams in our democracy, protecting human and environmental health.

 

Today the Clean Water Act is being assailed on all sides. Antagonists of the Clean Water Act show little regard for the human health impact of degraded and polluted waterways. Special interest groups are funding Congressional representatives with the sole mandate of gutting and defunding protections afforded under the Clean Water Act.

 

Let Congress know that access to clean water is a fundamental right for all. Oppose the attacks currently being waged on clean water by big polluters by signing the Waterkeeper Alliance petition today.