FEDERAL COMMITMENT LACKING ACCORDING TO NEW MINORITY REPORT
The successes and failures of the Clean Water Act can be succinctly stated. In 1972, only one-third of the Nation’s waters met water quality goals. Today, two-thirds of those waters meet water quality goals. The Nation has doubled the waters that meet water quality goals, but there is still much work to be done: one-third of our Nation’s waters still fail to meet the water quality goals first established more than 30 years ago.

October 18th marked the 32nd anniversary of the modern Clean Water Act. This landmark environmental statute established a national commitment to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. It is the main reason the Nation’s waterways have shown dramatic improvement in water quality, even as the population has increased by nearly 40 percent. The Clean Water Act has been instrumental in improving the health of rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. It has stopped billions of pounds of pollution from fouling the water and dramatically increased the number of waterways that are safe for swimming and fishing.

Click on the link below to access a new report prepared by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Minority Staff, "Progress Made, Progress Lost: The Bush Administration and the Anniversary of the Clean Water Act" http://us.gallerywatch.com/docs/news/US/agdocs/Clean=Water-Act-Report-2020041.pdf