River Habitat Blog

On a slow Saturday night, I was delighted to find a new piece of writing on the Clean Water Act from Utah’s own Robert Adler on Legal Theory Blog. Professor Adler (of the University of Utah) is one of the big thinkers on the Clean Water Act, and this piece is an interesting demonstration of his on-going and interesting relationship with the Act.

Earlier this week the U.S. EPA declared the Los Angeles River a "traditionally navigable river." This may not sound earth shattering to those not intimately tracking clean water issues, but the declaration is critical to ensure Clean Water Act protection for the troubled (to say the least) river and its tributaries, and may have ripple effects for rivers across the West.

River Network is happy to release Chapter 4 of "Implementing the Clean Water Act in the Intermountain West: an Overview." Chapter 4 summarizes basic information about each state's 401 water quality certification programs. This important and underutilized tool is worth learning more about.

Last week U.S. EPA launched a new and user-friendly database containing searchable information on approximately 40,000 water pollution dischargers all around the country. This tool will be very helpful to river groups interested in keeping track of where the pollution sources are in their watershed, and in following up to make sure enforcement follows violations.

Many of the workshops over the May 21-24th River Rally will be particularly useful to those of us working to protect and restore rivers in the Intermountain West. Sessions of particular interest to western river lovers include: Abandoned Mine Reclamation, New Horizons in Western Water Issues, Federal Support for Waters of the Intermountain West, "Low Flows, Hot Trout" Converting Climate Science into Political Action, Oil Shale: Not What It's Cracked Up to Be, and much, much more.

Got a burning water quality issue U.S. EPA needs to hear about? Speak out now. In April, EPA is hosting a conference called Coming Together for Clean Water. This conference will include about 100 river and water leaders charged with sharing ideas about how EPA can better address the water pollution problems facing our rivers. We need to make sure Western river issues are on the table at this meeting.

The New York Times' Toxic Water Series has tackled another important -- maybe the most important -- Clean Water Act issue of the day: jurisdiction. The question of which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act is critical, particularly in the semi-arid and arid regions of the Intermountain West.