Executive Summary

Population growth, drought, and climate change are straining the water supplies of Texas communities. Our state’s population is projected to double by 2060. Much of the state is in the throes of a prolonged drought. Climate experts are predicting that the U.S. Southwest will grow signifi cantly drier and hotter in the coming years. The combined challenges of climate change, drought and population growth make it clear that many Texas communities will be increasingly burdened with the responsibility of parceling out a diminishing supply of water to an increasing number of customers.

Nowhere in Texas are these issues more acute than in Central Texas - which is projected to grow at a faster rate than most of the state and is currently in the midst of extreme drought. This study analyzes the challenges posed by population growth, drought and climate change for water availability, as well as the responses to date of Central Texas communities in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (Williamson, Travis and Hays Counties). Our analysis concludes that, while almost all communities within this area are taking additional steps to conserve water, few are embracing the full range of options readily available.

Naturally vegetated buffers along streams are good for Pennsylvania's communities, environment and economy. They help to filter out pollution from runoff, prevent erosion and flooding, and provide important habitat for aquatic life.

Clean Water Action surveyed municipalities in more than a dozen counties across Pennsylvania and found that 192 municipalities had a riparian buffer ordinance and over 30% of those ordinances required 100 foot or greater buffers on some streams.

Executive Summary

For decades, the Clean Water Act protected the Nation's surface water bodies from unregulated pollution and rescued them from the crisis status they were in during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Now these vital protections are being lost. This report details the threat to our Nation's waters by examining dozens of case studies, and highlights the urgent need for Congress to restore full Clean Water Act protections to our waters.

Less than three days after the Bush Administration left office, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has overturned the State of South Dakota's approval of the massive BigStone II coal-fired power plant. The EPA's decision comes after the state failed to require state-of-the-art pollution controls for the coal plant that would address concerns about harmful soot, smog and global warming pollution.

EPA decision on Big Stone II, part 1 (pdf, 2.12 MB)

In our annual report:

• Two years of victories
• Our priority issues: clean water, healthy legacy, Great Lakes, Global Warming and clean energy
• Staff transition updates, and strategic planning
• What's next for Clean Water: future work and key strategies

See our full annual report. (1234 kb, pdf)

On February 21, 2008, Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund released What A Waste! (pdf) . Close to 3,000 Clean Water Action members participated in our survey, indicating they want curbside recycling and would be willing to help pay for it. Our recommendations to the City are clear - establish a city-wide curbside recycling program now and work with groups like Clean Water Action to resolve stormwater issues in the City.

Evidence from decades of scientific scrutiny has overcome skepticism that mankind can alter the climate of the Earth. In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC) issued a scientifica assessment, concluding, "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last fifty years is attributable to human activities."

In this report, we:

Releases of untreated or partially treated sewage and industrial wastes threaten our water, beaches, health and overall quality of life.

Get the report, October 2001 (pdf, 139 KB)

by Harry Vogel, Executive Director, Loon Preservation Committee
of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire

Background

Methyl mercury is one of the most toxic and biologically active forms of mercury and is readily taken up by fish, loons, other wildlife, and humans. Significant exposure of wildlife to mercury is almost exclusively from the consumption of methyl mercury in fish. On many lakes in New Hampshire, fish mercury levels are higher than those thought to cause impaired reproduction in loons (Barr 1986).