Trust for America’s Health’s Statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Latest Clean Water Act Rule: Important for the Nation’s Health

Washington, DC, May 27, 2015 – The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) is pleased the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a final rule clarifying the definition of Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. This will enable relevant agencies to better safeguard our nation’s headwaters, streams and wetlands and ensure the water we drink is free from pollution.

The following is a statement by Jeffrey Levi, PhD, Executive Director of TFAH.

“TFAH applauds the EPA and the Obama Administration for advancing this final rule, which applies to the headwaters that supply more than 117 million Americans with their drinking water. It is vital for the nation’s health to ensure everyone has access to safe and clean water.

Because these headwaters are one source of many rivers and streams, they are a precious health resource. Yet, today carcinogens, crude oil and harmful bacteria are still being dumped upstream—with little oversight—and flowing down to our communities and into one in three American’s drinking glasses.

With this final rule, we are one step closer to ensuring one of our nation’s largest supplies of water is safe to drink.

TFAH looks forward to working with federal, state and local governments, the public health community, and other critical partners to monitor ongoing implementation of this rule.

Each day we delay is another we put Americans’ health and lives at risk.”

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Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.