Great Lakes Reports
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| 2010-06-22 | |
| From the Chesapeake Bay to the Puget Sound to the Great Lakes to the San Francisco Bay, Americans throughout the country depend on our waters for fishing, recreation and clean drinking water. These waters are the home to some of our most cherished wildlife, like orcas, blue crabs and bald eagles. American families from coast to coast travel to our great waters every summer to relax and enjoy some of nature’s wonders. And year round our great waters are host to some of America’s great cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans. Our waters are integral to the economies of these cities and their surrounding areas. With robust tourism industries and longstanding fishing trades dependent on clean water, protecting our great waterways is necessary for both our environment and our economy. | |
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| 2010-02-11 | |
| For decades, the Clean Water Act protected the Nation’s surface water bodies from unregulated pollution and rescued them from the crisis status they were in during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Now these vital protections are being lost. This report details the threat to our Nation’s waters by examining dozens of case studies, and highlights the urgent need for Congress to restore full Clean Water Act protections to our waters. | |
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| 2009-11-12 | |
| Humans need very few things to survive: air, shelter, food, and water. Fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) pollute the air with smog, soot and global warming pollution, but their effect on water is often overlooked. Natural gas, which the industry touts as the “cleanest of all fossil fuels,” threatens to dirty drinking water with toxic chemicals used in drilling.1 Rivers, lakes and groundwater already face threats from industrial pollution, agricultural runoff, and overdevelopment. Adding an unnecessary threat to one of the most valuable resources is dangerous. The government must act to safeguard drinking water. | |
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| 2009-10-21 | |
| Industrial facilities continue to dump millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into America’s rivers, streams, lakes and ocean waters each year — threatening both the environment and human health. According to the EPA, pollution from industrial facilities is responsible for threatening or fouling water quality in more than 10,000 miles of rivers and more than 200,000 acres of lakes, ponds and estuaries nationwide. | |
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| 2008-08-06 | |
| Water is a precious commodity in the Southwest, yet the rate of water consumption outstrips natural supply. Rapid population growth, excessive water consumption, water pollution, and years of drought have depleted the Southwest’s natural water reserves and put the region at greater risk of a water crisis. Without a dramatic change from business as usual, the Southwest’s water scarcity problem will only get worse. | |
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| 2007-10-11 | |
| October 18, 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, a landmark law intended to restore and maintain the physical, chemical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. In passing the Clean Water Act, Congress set the goals of eliminating the discharge of pollutants into the nation’s waterways by 1985 and making all U.S. waterways fishable and swimmable by 1983. | |
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| 2007-08-07 | |
| In 2006 there were more beach closings and advisories than at any other time in the 17 years the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has been tracking them. The number of closing and advisory days at ocean, bay, and Great Lakes beaches jumped 28 percent to more than 25,000, confirming that our nation’s beaches continue to suffer from serious water pollution. | |
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| 2006-08-03 | |
| In 2005 there were more beach closings and advisories than at any other time in the 16 years the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has been tracking them. The number of closing and advisory days at ocean, bay, and Great Lakes beaches topped 20,000, confirming that our nation’s beaches continue to suffer from serious water pollution. | |
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| 2005-09-10 | |
| Water use in Michigan is currently a free-for-all. Lack of effective laws allows large users to treat Michigan’s waterways and the Great Lakes like their own private wells, drawing off unlimited quantities of water without regard for how it will impact nearby waterways or other users. As a result, large water users are leaving residents without access to clean water, destroying fish and wildlife habitat, and diminishing the value of property. | |
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