Action Items on Clean Water

1. Stop the EPA's Sewage Dumping Policy!!!

ACTION: Please contact your US House representative and ask him/her to sign a letter by Congressmen Pallone, Shaw, and Stupak to Administrator Leavitt.

The letter urges the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the sewage dumping guidance. Congressmen Pallone, Shaw, and Stupak are asking their colleagues to support citizens' right to clean water and health by opposing the guidance, which puts the public at increased risk of getting sick from bacteria, viruses, and pathogens in wastewater discharges.

Exposure to untreated sewage makes people sick, contaminates shellfish, kills fish, and closes beaches. Every year, millions of Americans get sick from contact with inadequately treated sewage that ends up in water that we swim in or drink.

Although the Clean Water Act requires that raw sewage be treated to remove dangerous viruses, parasites and other pollutants before it is discharged into streams, lakes and drinking water sources, the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to finalize a new policy that would allow sewer operators to mix sewage that is not fully treated with treated sewage before discharging it into our waterways whenever it rains. The policy would mean more bacteria, viruses and parasites in our recreational waters and drinking water supplies, where they would make more people sick (more than half of all waterborne disease outbreaks in the U.S. in the past 50 years were preceded by heavy rainfall).

We need to reduce the amount of sewage entering our rivers, streams and other waterbodies, not add sewage! Public health officials, state environmental officials -- including PA DEP, shellfishermen, marina operators, and thousands of citizens have urged EPA to drop the guidance. In her letter to EPA objecting to the proposed blending policy, Deputy Secretary Myers noted that the policy would "backslide on existing environmental and public health protections that have served the public interest for years", and also argued that the policy would serve as a disincentive to investment in infrastructure and its resulting deterioration.

Three members of the House of Representatives, Reps. Shaw (R-FL), Stupak (D-MI) and Pallone (D-NJ), are urging their colleagues to sign on to a letter that calls on the EPA to abandon its policy to expand sewage dumping into the nation's waters. Contact your representative and ask them to oppose this ill-conceived guidance by signing onto the Shaw/Stupak/Pallone anti-sewage letter.

Talking Points

• Exposure to untreated sewage makes people sick, contaminates shellfish, kills fish, and closes beaches.
• EPA1s policy to authorize sewage dumping is illegal; the Clean Water Act requires sewage to be treated.
• EPA1s policy would make more people sick, especially children, the elderly, and people who are already weakened by illness

Questions: contact Robin Mann, 610-527-4598 or Navis Bermudez, 202-675-2392, with the Sierra Club's Clean Water Campaign.

2. Urge your Representative to be an original co-sponsor of important Clean Water Act amendment!!!

ACTION: Urge your Representative to join Representative Oberstar as an original cosponsor of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act when he reintroduces this bill early in the 109th Congress.
The Bush administration is withdrawing federal protection from many wetlands, streams and ponds, leaving them vulnerable to pollution or destruction. The "Clean Water Authority Restoration Act" is an important step for safeguarding these waters from pollution from industry and developers. Please urge your representative to support the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act so that we can continue the progress we1ve made under the Clean Water Act.

The Administration is using a 2001 Supreme Court ruling as justification for abandoning many small streams, wetlands and ponds. This action would leave communities at risk from increased flooding, degraded drinking water, exposure to bacteria, pathogens and toxics. Urge your representative to be an original cosponsor the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act to ensure that the Clean Water Act will continue to keep all of our nation1s waters healthy and safe.

Background:

Early in the 109th Congress, Congressman James Oberstar (MN) will reintroduce important legislation to protect wetlands and other waters. The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act responds to the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which dealt a serious blow to the protection of the nation's waters by narrowing federal authority to control water pollution.

The Supreme Court ruling in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. Army Corps of Engineers overturned the federal government's long-held authority under the Clean Water Act to protect non-navigable, intrastate, isolated wetlands, streams and other waterbodies from pollution based on their use by migratory birds. The Court's 5-4 majority opinion questioned whether federal Clean Water Act protections apply to any wetlands, streams and other waters that may be considered isolated. In the wake of confusion created by the Court's opinion, varying interpretations have been applied by the agencies and in the courts.
In some areas of the country, the ruling was seen as setting aside federal protection of all waters that are not immediately adjacent to rivers and streams used for navigation.

In January 2003, the Bush administration issued an immediate policy guidance that would remove protections from many of our small streams, ponds and wetlands that appear to be disconnected from major rivers and lakes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the guidance places at risk 20% of the United States' remaining wetlands, some 20 million acres. Many more small streams and ponds could also be excluded.

The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act provides the long-term solution. The legislation would clarify that Congress intends for Clean Water Act protections to apply to all such waters as waters of the United States, based on a longstanding definition of waters of the United States in Army Corps of Engineers regulations. The bill would also delete the word "navigable" from the Clean Water Act to clarify that the primary concern of Congress in 1972, and now, is the protection of the nation's waters from pollution, rather than just to sustain the navigability of waterways.

3. Pennsylvania is Updating the Stormwater Management Practices Handbook

The Handbook of Best Management Practices for minimizing the water quality and quantity impacts of stormwater runoff is in the process of being revised. DEP contracted with T.H. Cahill Associates to revise the manual to reflect new technologies for avoiding and minimizing the stormwater-related impacts of development. Responding to pressures from the developer community, DEP has launched a technical review of the manual, in advance of putting it out for public comment. DEP has convened regional task forces, composed largely of consulting engineers, to review the manual and provide input. The task forces have met for the first time and are currently reviewing the manual.

The draft Handbook is a very large document. It may not be possible to obtain a copy, but you can contact the Water Management office in your Regional Office to find out.

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