Take Action for Clean Water

Like many other wild animals, painted turtles rely on wetlands and streams that could soon lose Clean Water Act protections. And one-third of threatened or endangered species in the United States depend on wetlands for survival. Rolling back provisions that protect wetlands and streams from pollution and destruction will be dangerous for the health of people, wildlife, and our natural environment.

Submit a comment today to the Environmental Protection Agency urging them NOT to weaken the Clean Water Act and to KEEP protections in place for our precious waters, wetlands, and streams.

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Dear Administrator Zeldin,

This proposal will harm drinking water quality, destroy wildlife habitat, and put communities across the country at greater risk of floods. The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA already dramatically reduced the scope of waters protected by the Clean Water Act. This new proposal goes much further—leaving nearly all freshwater wetlands and millions of miles of streams at risk.

Removing federal pollution control and destruction protections from the vast majority of wetlands and streams puts people’s health at risk and will increase costs for American families. Marshes, bogs, and other wetlands are the sponges of our water systems. They naturally filter pollutants out of the water that flows from our taps by absorbing water and slowly releasing it throughout the year—recharging groundwater and sustaining drinking water supplies. Healthy wetlands also help mitigate the damage from increasingly severe storms and floods while also promoting drought and wildfire resilience.

Small, seasonal streams—the headwaters of our more well-known, iconic waters—are essential to our drinking water supplies. Water from healthy streams is cleaner and costs less to treat. They also provide important nursery habitat for spawning fish and deliver cool, clean water downstream.

Without a strong federal baseline that adequately protects these waters nationwide, the burden falls to states and localities to protect wetlands and streams. History has shown us that this state-by-state approach is not enough to ensure the protection of our waters for future generations.

The proposed loss of basic pollution and destruction protections for the vast majority of the nation’s wetlands and streams will mean there will be fewer places to safely swim, fish, and drink. The proposal abandons all science and ecology that formed the foundation of the Clean Water Act, creating more confusion and uncertainty.

Our wetlands, rivers, and streams support healthy and resilient communities, and I urge EPA to fully enforce the Clean Water Act to protect them. At a time when we need the natural benefits of healthy wetlands and streams most, we should be doing more, not less, to protect clean water.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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