SOURCE:
https://libn.com/2022/11/03/chandler-at-milestone-anniversary-li-needs-more-protection/
By: Opinion, Kevin Chandler - November 3, 2022
As the nation observes the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act (CWA), perhaps nowhere is that landmark more crucial than Long Island which is totally dependent on underground aquifers for its source of drinkable water.
The half-century mark provides us all with an opportunity to reflect on the enormous progress our nation has made towards protecting and restoring our nation’s waterways, but also to consider how we need to apply additional resources to further protect our natural resources today and far into the future.
Originally passed in 1972, the CWA was a transformative piece of legislation enacted to essentially revolutionize America’s commitment to protecting and restoring the environmental integrity of the essential waterways that sustain our communities and ecosystems.
Before the passage of the CWA, many of our lakes, rivers, and streams were heavily polluted with raw sewage, industrial chemicals, and dangerous metals. Much of our drinking water was threatened by rampant industrial waste and sewage. Our wetlands were rapidly disappearing, and many of our rivers were routinely catching fire.
As a result, our nation has made significant strides in reducing direct discharges of untreated sewage and chemical wastes. Many of our waterways are observably cleaner than they were decades ago. For example, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, largely considered a major catalyst in the creation of the CWA after catching fire in 1969, is once again flowing freely without the danger of it bursting into flames.
Yet, water quality improvements have slowed in recent decades. According to the EPA’s National Water Quality Inventory Report, nearly 70% of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, and 90% of the surveyed ocean and near coastal areas continue to violate water quality standards. All 50 states have experienced harmful algal blooms over the last decade, while, sadly, the Long Island Sound, along with the island’s major regional bays and estuaries, continue to suffer from toxic algae between the months of June through October.
Organizations such as the Nature Conservancy have consistently issued reports warning of nitrogen seeping in from individual septic and cesspools that harms the region’s eco-balance. Other reports reveal that some households continue to dispose of their outdated medications by flushing them down the toilets, further harming our environment.
While the CWA has allowed our nation to address many of the sources of pollution that were plaguing our waterways decades ago, it falls short of today’s challenges. Conditions we thought weren’t a problem when the CWA was enacted have now emerged as environmental tipping points. Runoff pollution from indirect sources such as stormwater effluent is the leading cause of environmental damage to our waterways, and yet it is not being addressed by the Clean Water Act in its current form. “Forever” chemicals are now being identified as troubling sources of pollution in municipal water supplies.
There are certainly instances of victory over pollutants.
We are proud of Veolia’s management of Nassau County wastewater treatment facilities which has played a strategic role in bringing marine life back to the county’s fragile south shore wetlands. We have done so through a public-private partnership with an engaged Blakeman Administration that has made environmental protection one of its key policy pillars. Equally important, we have worked closely with community-based groups such as SPLASH and Citizens Campaign for the Environment but those wetlands and their surrounding communities are just a fraction of what need to be protected.
Veolia North America has sought to become a national model for innovation in creating solutions that recover, recycle, and reuse water, our most precious of resources. However, those efforts need to be part of a far larger Washington directed redesign of the Clean Water Act that builds on 50 years of progress to ensure it remains a vital tool in protecting our next half century years.