“Putting Drinking Water First” means stopping threats to drinking water where they start.
Clean Water Action is working to win strong water pollution controls by focusing on public health and drinking water impacts and bringing public health and environmental advocacy into Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) implementation.
The goal of the Center is to solve drinking water challenges with equitable solutions that address water pollution at the source. Polluting industries, not vulnerable communities, should bear the cost of cleaning up pollution that threatens drinking water sources.
Clean Water Action’s Putting Drinking Water First approach means making drinking water impacts a primary consideration when developing regulations and other programs involving upstream activities that could negatively impact downstream drinking water sources. The EPA/Corps Clean Water Rule better protects tributaries that impact the health of downstream waters, include drinking water sources: The Clean Water Rule has concrete implications for source water protection and for drinking water quality.
Lead is a highly poisonous metal and can affect almost every organ in the body and the nervous system. It is a naturally occurring element found, due to human activity, in all parts of our environment.
“Act like drinking water matters.” This approach has always been at the core of Clean Water Action’s programs.
Most drinking water in the United States—approximately 2/3—comes from above ground sources such as rivers, lakes, and streams. These surface waters are extremely vulnerable to pollution from human activities. Polluted runoff from farms, stockyards, roads, as well as industrial discharges of pollution ranging from coal plants to chemical manufacturers, threaten our drinking water sources across the country.
Clean Water Action is celebrating our 50th birthday this year and the anniversary of the Clean Water Act which our founder, the late David Zwick, helped to craft and pass in 1972. For 50 years, the Clean Water Act – our nation’s bedrock environmental law – has helped prevent water pollution and protect the health and safety of waterways across the country.
