Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Lawsuit seeks to restore Clean Water Act protections for wetlands, small streams and pools
December 20, 2019
Small streams and pools, seasonal wetlands, and isolated waterbodies are among the most important habitats for fish and wildlife. The native plants in these area filter pollutants and particulates from water. Small streams and wetlands also recharge and purify surface and ground water and perform other services essential to human wellbeing.
These wetlands also are critical to the fight against climate change. Not only do they
sequester greenhouse gasses, they also help buffer local climates, absorb flood waters and contribute to ecosystem and community resilience in the face of strengthening storms and other natural disasters.
These facts led the Obama administration to adopt rules in 2015 to clarify that smaller and seasonal streams and wetlands should receive full protection under the Clean Water Act. The clarification was fiercely opposed by agriculture, real estate developers, and resource extraction industries. Its repeal was proposed by President Trump shortly after he took office.
The Trump repeal not only puts the drinking water for millions of people in the U.S. at risk, it also withdraws protections crucial to responding to the twin disasters of mass extinction and climate change which threaten humanity as well as all other life on earth.
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Photo: Mountain meadow wetlands like this help purify California’s water supply © Emily B. Roberson
Seven environmental groups have sued to challenge the Trump administration’s repeal of the so called “Clean Water Rule”. The Clean Water Rule had ensured that federal Clean Water Act protections applied to smaller streams, seasonal wetlands and other small, intermittent or isolated waterbodies. These waterbodies are crucial to maintaining water quality and providing wildlife habitat. The EPA estimates that the Trump rule will withdraw protection from at least 18% of streams and 51% of wetlands in the U.S., making them subject to dredging, pollution and other damage.