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Say No to Pumping Dirty Water Into Clean
 Transferring dirty, contaminated water into drinking water supplies poses grave public health threats, and under the Clean Water Act is illegal without a federal permit.
But now, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a misguided rule that would allow polluted water to be dumped into another body of water without a permit or any restrictions. The proposal, if adopted, threatens the health of all of our nation’s waters.
Deadline extended: The agency is now accepting public comment until August 7. Please tell the EPA that pumping polluted water into clean water without a permit is unacceptable and should remain illegal under the Clean Water Act.
Personalized letters are much more effective: Why is keeping our nation's waters clean important to you?
(Are you having trouble with this page? Click here.)
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Don't exempt water transfers from the Clean Water Act
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2006-0141:
I am writing in opposition to EPA's proposed rule to exempt water transfers from the Clean Water Act's prohibition on discharging pollutants into the nation's waters.
Water transfers can spread any number of pollutants through our waters, including invasive species such as zebra mussels that are now overwhelming the Great Lakes. Biological hazards such as toxic algae have been introduced to previously clean water bodies through water transfers, and have sickened humans and even proven fatal to pets.
This proposal would allow the practice of pumping pollution from one water into another without a permit, no matter how polluted the source water nor how clean the receiving water. EPA should be looking for ways to eliminate water pollution altogether, not ways to spread pollutants around.
The protection of our nation's waters is essential to human health, healthy communities, and a healthy environment. This proposed regulation is unacceptable and should be abandoned, and existing rules that prohibit dumping polluted water into clean should be followed.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
July 11, 2006
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The Clean Water Act was adopted more than 30 years ago to end the use of the nation’s waters as cesspools of pollution. The law promised that all Americans would have access to safe and healthy waterways.
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| Blue-green algae blooms on Florida's Lake Okeechobee |
While we have made great progress in cleaning up our lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and other waters, even today many water pollution problems remain to be addressed. Fish advisories, toxic algae blooms, sewer overflows, residential and agricultural runoff, waste from industrial mining, and other pollutants continue to plague our waters.
But instead of proposing rules that would protect our waters from more pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken the opposite approach, and has proposed a misguided rule that would allow polluted water to be dumped directly into clean water without any federal oversight.
Water transfers can spread any number of pollutants through our waters, including invasive species such as zebra mussels that are now overwhelming the Great Lakes. Biological hazards such as toxic algae have been introduced to previously clean water bodies through water transfers, and have sickened humans and even proven fatal to pets. The EPA's approach would lead to the spread of more water pollution around the country.
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| Earthjustice has long been working through the courts to keep our nation's waters clean. |
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Fighting to Save Lake Okeechobee
Billions of gallons of polluted water are being pumped into Lake Okeechobee, the largest drinking water source in South Florida.
The South Florida Water Management District operates huge pumps that periodically discharge a black, pollutant-laden plume that reaches nine miles into Lake Okeechobee. The pumps are so large that they generate a flow comparable to a medium–sized river.
The resulting pollution plume contaminates drinking water supplies and depletes fish and wildlife populations. It also triggers toxic algae blooms, which can cause serious skin infections and, if ingested, can be fatal to humans, livestock, and pets. Carcinogen levels in the drinking water of cities that draw from the lake have been measured several times higher than legal limits, and a recent Center for Disease Control study warns pregnant women not to bathe in the water supplied in those cities because of the risk of birth defects.
The trial concluded this past May, and Earthjustice attorneys are hopeful that we may win a legal decision that will end this practice of pollution pumping.
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EPA's Proposed Polluted Pumping Rule
On June 1, 2006, EPA announced its intent to exempt transfers of polluted water from the Clean Water Act's point-source permitting program. The EPA defines a water transfer as "an activity that conveys waters of the United States to another water of the United States without subjecting the water to intervening industrial, municipal or commercial use."
The new rule would allow contaminants to be dumped directly into drinking water sources, as well as lakes and streams, by water transfer operations. This rule is contrary to the act's purpose of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of our nation's waters, as it would allow the practice of pumping pollution from one water into another without a permit, no matter how polluted the source water, nor how clean the receiving water.
The agency is ignoring not only the plain text of the Clean Water Act itself, but also a number of federal court decisions that have explicitly rejected the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Water Act and its position that water transfers should be exempt from permitting.
If You Can't Win, Change the Rules
In a race to beat an impending federal court decision concerning pumping of contaminated water into Lake Okeechobee -- the largest drinking water source in South Florida -- this proposal is on a fast-track through the EPA. In the lawsuit, Earthjustice is representing the Florida Wildlife Federation, Friends of the Everglades, and the Miccosukee Tribe's claims that pumping massive quantities of polluted urban and agricultural wastes into Lake Okeechobee violates the Clean Water Act (learn more about this case at right).
If you would like to submit your comments directly to EPA by mail, please send 3 copies of your remarks to:
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2006-0141
Water Docket
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode 4203M
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
Deadline extended: The agency is now accepting public comment until August 7! Take action today!
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