Putting Drinking Water First

“Putting Drinking Water First” means stopping threats to drinking water where they start.

Clean Water Action is working to win strong water pollution controls  by focusing on public health and drinking water impacts and bringing public health and environmental advocacy into Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) implementation.

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Put Drinking Water First: Time to Curb Power Plants' Toxic Pollution

Clean Water Action’s analysis of supporting documents for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category confirms that power plant discharges to surface water often include contaminants that experts consider to be “contaminants of concern” when found in drinking water.

Lake Erie Algal Bloom - August 2015. Photo Credit: NOAA Great Lakes CoastWatch

Putting Drinking Water First to Address Nutrient Pollution

Nutrient pollution from nitrogen and phosphorus runoff is one of the most pervasive water quality problems in the U.S., and there's increasing concern about its impact on drinking water.

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Beakers. Photo credit: Africa Studios / Shutterstock

PFAS Chemicals – Protecting Our Drinking Water And Our Health

PFAS are a class of human-made chemicals that very long-lived, which means that they remain in the environment and in humans and wildlife for a very long time. Clean Water is taking on pollution from these "Forever Chemicals" through education, research, working with impacted communities, advocating for legislation and regulation at the state and national level, supporting Safe Drinking Water Act monitoring, holding polluters accountable, and more.
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Lead and Drinking Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that lead in drinking water can be 20% or more of a person’s lead exposure. We need to get lead out of contact with water. That’s where full lead service line replacement comes in - alongside advocacy, collaboration, and education.
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Stream in a yellow meadow

What's at stake with the Dirty Water Rule

In January 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized it's Navigable Waters Protection Rule (AKA "The Dirty Water Rule") to slash federal clean water safeguards. Trump’s Dirty Water Rule is a radical reinterpretation of the Clean Water Act that would eliminate protections for rain

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Background: Federal Regulation of Lead in Drinking Water

For our introduction to lead and drinking water, click here.

The Federal Government regulates lead in drinking water, primarily through the Lead and Copper Rule.

Lead and Copper Rule

Adopted as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1991 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Lead

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Fixtures. Photo credit: Andrey Eremin / Shutterstock
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