If Your State Isn't Keeping Your Water Safe, You Can Do Something About It

As a water advocate, I welcomed the terrific New York Times article this Sunday about the rise of pollution in America's waters. It's a bracing reminder that even when we have good environmental laws on the books, we still need to remain vigilant about enforcing them.

As the Times indicated, however, it is isn't just the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that needs to do a better job of enforcing the nation's clean water law and keeping our waters safe and clean. The states do too, not just because this is a good idea, but because they are legally bound to do so.

It's a little know fact that most states have entered into formal agreements with the EPA under a federal regulation that allows them to "step into the shoes" of the EPA and administer certain aspects of the Clean Water Act.  For example, states can issue the basic permits that restrict water pollution-the very permits that the Times found were often violated with impunity in many instances.  

States like to possess these permit-writing privileges, but to keep these powers, states have to ensure that the permits they issue are adequately policed.

This is where regular people have a role to play. When states fail to enforce their permits, citizens can petition the EPA to yank the offending state's power to implement the Clean Water Act (You can click here, here, and here to see relevant provisions).  

This gives the communities that bear the brunt of water pollution in the form of skin rashes, gastrointestinal problems, and cancer some recourse.  

The Times piece refers to one of these petitions filed by citizens living in West Virginia, but that state is not alone. The lack of enforcement in many other places may also provide grounds for citizens to file petitions to do likewise.  Some years, ago, I filed a petition like this in California, and it had the practical effect of leading to new state environmental staff to improve California's Clean Water Act efforts.

These citizen complaints are an effective tool for pushing states to live up to their responsibility to keep pollution out of our waters. Most states jealously guard their authority to implement the permit program, and when faced with the threat of losing it, they are inclined to clean up their act.   

This is important because, in reality, the EPA will not be able to enforce every violation of the law that should be enforced-although EPA can and should do much more (see my colleague Jon Devine's post about why federal enforcement is currently lacking).  

States have to do their part to address the striking findings in the Times' investigation if we are going to see real and lasting change in the health of our water--and the health of our citizens.