The Clean Water Act was passed over 50 years ago. Sadly, a new analysis has found that it has fallen well short of its goals. Most of America’s natural water is so polluted it is unusable. Who’s to blame? Animal agriculture. Runoff from meat factories has caused most of the pollution entering our waterways. Global warming is also a factor. It’s all made worse by corrupt politicians gutting the EPA .
Right now, nearly half of the rivers, streams, and lakes across the US are considered too polluted to meet basic water quality standards. That means you can’t swim, fish, or drink this water! How sad is it to look upon a rambling river snaking its way through lush green hills and have to tell your child they can’t swim in it?
Also, isn’t it a basic human right to be able to fish for food? In most of our waterways, you can’t do that anymore either! The fish are too full of toxins.
This water quality analysis was conducted by the Environmental Integrity Project, which is a non-profit. Specifically, they found that 700,000 miles of waterways, about 51%, are impaired by pollution. Meanwhile, 55% of lakes and 26% of estuaries are polluted.
Indiana has the worst water. Oregon is second. South Carolina is third.
Mostly agriculture. The Environmental Integrity Project said, “Factory-style animal production has become an industry with massive waste disposal problem and should be regulated like other large industries.” But their lobbyists are too strong. Politicians have gutted the EPA so that water quality standards have not been enforced for our waterways. Why? Because selling you hamburgers and chicken is just too profitable. When you’re a US corporation, you are only loyal to your stockholders. Profit is king and the health of people like you and I don’t matter.
Another problem is warming waterways. Every year breaks heat records around the globe. The impact is that water is getting so warm that fish are leaving it. They can’t survive. Their habitable water space is reduced and therefore their populations are reduced. What happens if we don’t stop global warming? All of the aquatic life in our waterways dies. Eventually, the ocean dies. Then we die because, besides food, the ocean provides most of the oxygen we breathe.
The Clean Water Act has cost nearly a trillion dollars. Critics have really hammered on this point. But the fact is that most of this money has been spent to create wastewater treatment plants. These plants have been proven to be effective in improving water quality. But there haven’t been enough wastewater treatments plants created. This is a massive problem. Over half of our waterways need a treatment plant! And animal agriculture must be regulated so that they stop polluting the water with animal waste, fertilizers, ecoli, antibiotics, and more.
Regulations need to be updated. The EPA needs to be reinforced. The Clean Water Act needs a massive influx of money. If we don’t act now, it may be too late for humanity to survive.
In the meantime, you should treat your tap water with a multi-stage filtration system like what’s available in EOS water ionizers. Protect you and your family now and urge your politicians to take our water quality seriously. Our children are depending on us!
