Member Pipeline - Correspondence & Outreach - Editorial
Earth Day Comes and Goes
but Challenges to the Nation’s Clean Water Persist
Although Earth Day has come and gone, responsible newspapers, like the
Washington Post, must treat each day as Earth Day and provide the much-needed
focus on water quality issues all year round. In the stir of voices surrounding
Earth Day, one key group’s voice should rise to the top of the clamor — that of
America’s true environmentalists — the municipal public servants who do the
actual work of cleaning the country’s waters each and every day. These public
servants understand, better than anyone, the major challenges this nation faces
to ensure continued clean water progress. Simply stated, improving the nation’s
water quality has become an increasingly difficult task as federal mandates on
the nation’s municipalities continue to cost our communities billions of
dollars, while the federal government’s financial commitment to the nation’s
clean water infrastructure dwindles.
As the Presidential race is now shifting into high gear, the nation deserves to have the contenders focus on water quality issues. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has repeatedly warned that without a massive new investment, the nation’s water quality will regress to pre-1971 Clean Water Act levels. EPA has also projected a funding gap of as much as half a trillion dollars to repair and replace aging water infrastructure over the next 20 years. Yet, the current Administration’s response to this staggering data has been to propose a $500 million funding cut in federal clean water project loans in its fiscal year 2005 budget — a move opposed by a broad-based coalition of municipal, state, environmental, public health and industry groups.
If there is one issue that should not be partisan in nature, surely it is clean water. Key experts, including prominent pollster Frank Luntz, who conducted a recent 2004 survey on clean water issues, found that over 90% of Americans support a dedicated, national funding source for clean water. This resounding message from the American public, coupled with the fact that for every $1 billion invested in water infrastructure nearly 47,000 long-term jobs are created, should be reason enough for the federal government to recommit to making American’s rivers, lakes, streams, bays and estuaries a top priority. These facts should alert lawmakers across the country that the voice of the nation’s public, and its local public servants who work every day to protect our communities’ environmental well-being, must be heard. Congress and the President must recommit to clean water NOW.