For Immediate Release: July 14, 2009

Prairie Rivers Network is asking Senator Roland Burris to vote for the Baucus-Klobuchar-Boxer Amendment to the Clean Water Restoration Act. This Act would reinstate protections for wetlands and streams that have been compromised over the past eight years. Before adjourning for the 4th of July recess, the Environment and Public Works Committee voted 12-7 to send the measure on to the full Senate. The Act already has the support of Senator Durbin. In a letter hand-delivered to Sen. Burris’ Chicago office on Tuesday, July 14, Prairie Rivers Network scientist, Stacy James, said, “The way Clean Water Restoration Act restores these protections is by removing the term “navigable waters” (originally defined as “waters of the U.S.”) and replacing it with “waters of the U.S.”. “Waters of the U.S.” is then defined as including the breadth of natural waterways in addition to the mere two percent of waterways that are truly navigable. This change is critical because it acknowledges the importance of streams and wetlands that are seasonal or intermittent in nature but are nevertheless crucial to the healthy functioning of our environment. The Act also maintains existing agricultural exemptions that farmers have enjoyed for years. Failure to pass the bill will undermine President Obama’s budget initiative to restore the Great Lakes (including its wetlands) and Illinois’ beloved Lake Michigan.”

“The Clean Water Restoration Act presents an opportunity for Senator Burris to stand up for Illinoisans and protect clean drinking water to the extent envisioned by Congress when they passed the original Act in 1972,” said Glynnis Collins, Executive Director, Prairie Rivers Network. “This Act will clarify the connection between water sources, so that a stream is not seen in isolation to the sources of water that feed it.”

In recent years, Supreme Court decisions and federal agency rules have weakened the protections in the Clean Water Act of 1972 by removing safeguards to wetlands, seasonal streams and other waters. These critical parts of the entire system of waterways lost legal protection even though they are crucial to drinking water quality, habitat and the prevention of flooding.

“What happened to the Clean Water Act over the last eight years is a tragedy. EPA cannot clean up big rivers and streams unless they can limit pollution of the small tributaries” said Clark Bullard, Board Member, Prairie Rivers Network. “A series of Supreme Court decisions failed to recognize the fact that all waters are connected, whether they flow every day or not. Congress clearly intends for the EPA to regulate dumping of pollutants into a streambed that is temporarily dry. Illinois has more than 87,000 miles of rivers and streams, many of which are seasonal, and all those pollutants flow downhill.”

The Clean Water Restoration Act would protect a large portion of the nation’s drinking water that is currently without protection. In Illinois, over 50 percent of headwaters and seasonal streams and 150,000 acres of wetlands would regain protection.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 59 percent of stream miles in the continental U.S. are intermittent or ephemeral and many of these have been losing Clean Water Act protection since 2006. These streams provide important drinking water, flood control, and aquatic habitat functions. An estimated 20 million acres of wetlands – or 20 percent of all remaining wetlands in the lower 48 states – are already losing Clean Water Act protection, and many more are at risk. EPA estimates that more than 111 million Americans get their drinking water from public supplies fed in whole or in part by intermittent or ephemeral streams vulnerable to pollution under these decisions.

“The Clean Water Act as it now stands is inadequate for protecting the water that we cannot and should not live without. Senator Burris’ support of The Clean Water Restoration Act is therefore essential for ensuring that there will be enough clean water in Illinois for future generations,” said Stacy James, Water Resources Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network.

Prairie Rivers Network strives to protect the rivers and streams of Illinois and to promote the lasting health and beauty of watershed communities. www.prairierivers.org

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