Oct. 18 marked the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, and we have a lot to celebrate. Forty years ago, corporate polluters used our waterways as their personal sewers.
Ohio’s Cuyahoga River was so polluted it repeatedly caught on fire. The Hudson River and Long Island Sound were in much worse shape than they are today. We have come a long way from rivers catching on fire, but today our waterways face a new set of problems.
Here in New York, 87 percent of our streams may no longer be protected from pollution under the Clean Water Act, putting the drinking water of more than 11 million New Yorkers at risk.
Let’s build on 40 years of progress. It is time for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restore clean water protections to all streams, set limits on pollution for factory farms and protect our drinking water from fracking.
Eric Whalen
Field Organizer
Environment New York
Manhattan
