Keeping Up with Water Decision-Making in Washington, DC – July 30, 2025

This blog post is a collaborative effort of the River Network Policy Team, led by Campbell Simmons, Jenny Tompkins, and Colleen McGuire.

Let’s start with a fact we already know to be true: clean, safe, reliable drinking water and healthy rivers are a top priority for the people in your community – and your community is not alone in this belief. Whether your community is urban or rural, in the West, Midwest, South, mid Atlantic or Northeast, clean water matters to the people in your community.

📣 Share your story! How is your organization and/or community being affected by changes to federal funding? What are the immediate impacts on your work and what impacts do you anticipate in the near future? Fill out this Google Form to share.

As the new Administration and Congress takes shape, River Network wants to be a source you can turn to on an ongoing basis to know and understand what the Administration and Congress are proposing that will impact water in your community.

One way to stay up to speed is the Monthly Water Policy Updates and Calls hosted by River Network, the Clean Water for All Coalition, Earth Justice, and Clean Water Network for NGO water advocates. If you are a water advocate affiliated with an NGO, you can sign up for the calls here.

We plan to use this space, River Network’s blog, to keep you updated on ongoing basis. So please sign up for our email list to get the latest updates and plan to check back regularly to learn what’s new.

Click on the dropdown menus below for more information!

📰 Recent Updates

- WATER POLICY – The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee passed the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act (June 25, 2025). This bill, which includes a series of bills aimed at “cutting red tape”, would drastically impact the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) ability to provide critical protections and provide more opportunities for industry to pollute our waters. Click here to take action!
- WATER POLICY – WOTUS Rule Update: In March, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers announced their plan to revise the definition of “Waters of the United States”. To inform this process, the agencies gathered input from various stakeholders through a 30-day public comment period and a series of six listening sessions. A new definition of navigable waters is now included in the PERMIT Act, excluding waste treatment systems, ephemeral features that flow only in direct response to precipitation, prior converted cropland, groundwater, or any other features determined to be excluded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- EPA & OTHER AGENCIES – EPA released a memo “clarification”, which would weaken Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The memo would narrow the activities that were potentially subject to the 401 certification process under the Biden Administration’s 2023 Rule established by EPA. More importantly, the Memorandum states that EPA will eventually create a “recommendations docket” which will likely lead to an actual rulemaking aimed at formally narrowing the scope of Section 401, weakening one of the more important sections of the CWA.
- EPA & OTHER AGENCIES – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to reissue and modify Nationwide Permits (NWPs). This proposal would reissue 56 existing NWPs, introduce one new NWP, and modify the scope of other NWPs. It would revise key general conditions, including a clarification of the Clean Water Act’s Section 401 water quality certification to only be required for “proposed activity which may result in any discharge from a point source into waters of the United States” to be consistent with EPA’s post-Sackett ruling. Analysis provided to River Network by our partners indicates the proposed rulemaking fails to ensure minimal adverse impacts and lacks in mitigation requirements. Public comments were due July 18th.
- EPA & OTHER AGENCIES – EPA announced the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) for PFOA and PFOS will remain, while rescinding and reconsidering regulations for four other PFAS chemicals. EPA also announced it will push back the deadline by two years for water utilities to comply with the PFOA and PFOS regulations. Legislation has been introduced to codify the NPDWRs for PFOA and PFOS to ensure these standards remain durable, enforceable, and protected from future regulatory uncertainty or reversal.
- EPA & OTHER AGENCIES – The EPA has proposed a rule to reconsider the 2009 Endangerment Finding. The endangerment finding is the basis for rules regulating climate pollution. This repeal will effectively pump the brakes on addressing climate change by regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act. Public comments are due September 15th.

💧 Water Policy

Executive Order for a Regulatory Freeze that withdrawals or halts all pending federal regulations and any new regulations from being proposed or issued.
EPA announced it will keep the current Maximum Contaminant Levels for some PFAS, PFOA, while rescinding regulations for others and delaying the compliance deadlines.
Actions taken to overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Actions taken to overhaul EPA’s WaterSense water efficiency program.
Actions to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
An Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk (Executive Order 14030 – May 20, 2021) was rescinded. This action rescinds the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS), which requires federal agencies to prepare for and protect federally funded buildings and projects from flood risks. The standard should, however, stay in place until the agencies finalize rules to undo the standard.
EPA announced it will revise the 2023 definition of “waters of the United States” to further clarify which waters receive protection under the Clean Water Act based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. This revision will further narrow wetlands protections to only those with a “continuous surface connection to a requisite covered water making it difficult to determine where the water ends and wetland begins”, as stated in EPA’s guidance memo to the US Army Corps.
EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History including changes to wastewater regulations for coal power plants and Steam Electric Power, potentially loosening effluent guidelines for toxic metals entering our waterways.

💵 Water Funding

The Administration implemented a wide-ranging freeze of federal funding that is impacting, among many other vital services, a broad set of programs that directly support clean water, flood protection, and community resilience. The Unleashing American Energy Executive Order also directed all agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Over 700 communities are affected just within River Network’s federally funded programs.
The Administration’s Executive Order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” directs federal agencies to provide the Office of Management and Budget with a list of “Federal grantees who received Federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA,” or “environmental justice programs, services, or activities since January 20, 2021.”

🏛️ EPA & Other Federal Agencies

Lee Zeldin confirmed as new EPA Administrator, announced “five pillars that will guide the EPA’s work over the first 100 days and beyond.”
Senate EPW Approves Nomination for Jessica Kramer to lead EPA Office of Water (April 9th): The committee voted 15-4 to confirm Kramer.
By Executive Order, the Administration established a “Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).”
Federal Workforce
- USDA announces reorganization of Department, including relocation of staff.
- EPA announces additional actions to reduce staff and reorganize.
- By Executive Order, a freeze on filling vacancies or creating new positions for all Federal civilian employees throughout the executive branch, except military personnel of the armed forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.

🌱 Environmental Justice

As part of numerous deregulatory actions announced on March 12, 2025, EPA said it would terminate Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arms of the agency.
Executive Orders “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunity” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” take aim at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs requiring them to be dismantled in federal agencies as well as discouraging them from the private sector. They also revoke a Clinton-era Executive Order that requires federal agencies to take environmental justice and cumulative impacts into consideration. It will also bar most federal grant programs from prioritizing Disadvantaged Communities for funding, technical assistance, etc.
These actions were followed by a memo (1/21/25) ordering all agencies to put all federal employees “in diversity, equity and inclusion programs on paid leave” and “take down all materials marketing DEI programs.” EPA placed 171 employees on administrative leave as a result.

🗣️ Action Items

Reach out to your Members of Congress: It’s critical that they hear from you about the real-world positive difference federal funds, programs, and protections make to ensure clean water and resilience for your community.
Share your experiences: Tell River Network about how freezes on federal funding and changes to federal programs and protections are impacting water and people in your community.

🛠️ Resources

Environmental Protection Network (EPN)
- EPA Facts – EPA information on impacts to public health, the economy, stewardship of federal funds, public support, and more
- Resources for Communities, NGOs, and State/Local/Tribal Government Agencies
Lawyers For Good Government (L4GG)
- Federal Funding Resources
Communications and Messaging
- Voter Views on Water + Climate Resilience and The Opportunity on Water – Water Hub
- How framing can cue – or avert – a partisan divide – Resource Media
Data
- Cuts to Federal Workforce
Public Opinion Polling

Campbell Simmons

Campbell is River Network's Resilient Communities and Policy Associate based in Philadelphia. Campbell's work focuses on helping organizations navigate policy and funding related to Climate Resilience and comes to this work with dedication to community-based conservation and environmental justice.