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25th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act Minneapolis, Minnesota
10/17/1997| Carol M. Browner, Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Remarks Prepared for Delivery 25th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act Minneapolis, Minnesota October 17, 1997 Thank you, Senator Wellstone. Let me commend you and thank you for your many efforts on behalf of protecting public health and the environment -- both here in Minnesota and throughout the country. I am delighted to join you, Mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton and Congressman Marty Sabo here in the great city of Minneapolis. I want to pay special tribute, as well, to Marie Zeller of Clean Water Action and her colleagues in this region's environmental community. Without their dedication, commitment and hard work -- year after year -- we would not be standing here today and sharing this spirit of accomplishment and optimism. This place, on this stretch of the Upper Mississippi River, is an ideal spot to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Here, we can take stock of the great strides this country has made over the past quarter-century in addressing the serious pollution and public health problems that affected our rivers, our lakes and our coastal waters. We can reflect on how far we have come in a relatively short time. Before the Clean Water Act, water quality in many, many parts of our country was simply deplorable. Many of America's great waterways -- so vital to our health, our commerce and our very identity as a nation -- had become places to avoid. The Hudson River contained bacteria levels of 170 times the safe limit. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio actually caught fire. And the Upper Mississippi -- this father of waters, this national treasure -- was in serious decline. There was a reason for this. Raw sewage and industrial waste was routinely dumped into rivers, lakes and coastal waters. There was simply no method in place of effectively controlling the pollution that was fouling America's waters. But, 25 years ago, the American people said "enough." The Clean Water Act passed both Houses of Congress by overwhelming, bipartisan margins. And America finally got serious about addressing the pollution threat and restoring the quality of the nation's waters. By any measure, this landmark legislation has been hugely successful. Once-dead rivers, lakes and estuaries are now pulsating with life. People are returning to them -- to swim, to fish, to ply the waters in their boats and to relax on their shores. Across the nation, urban waterfront areas are coming back. Under President Clinton, we have sought to continue this progress -- by investing billions of dollars to help communities protect water quality, and by fighting attempts to weaken the Clean Water Act. Right here in the Twin Cities, you have a perfect example of how successful this legislation has been. Pollution from large industries has been greatly reduced. Funding made possible by the Clean Water Act has enabled communities in the watershed to fully treat their sewage. Wildlife is returning to the river -- bald eagles, peregrine falcons, cormorants and great blue herons -- as well as minks and other fish-eating mammals -- are back in the Twin Cities metro area. This "City of Water" once again as a river worthy of that name. But the Upper Mississippi also offers us a lesson that the job is not done -- not by any stretch of the imagination. Serious pollution threats remain -- from urban, rural and industrial sources. Despite the vast improvements, water quality is still impaired on 82 percent of the river from the headwaters to the Quad Cities. Many stretches are still too polluted for safe swimming. And eating the fish you catch is deemed safe on only 11 percent of the upper river. Nationwide, a third of America's waters are still too polluted fishing and swimming. That's just not acceptable. We have a great deal of work yet to do. In some respect, the work we've done over the past 25 years -- reducing pollution from large industrial sources and strengthening our sewage treatment -- has been the easy part of the job. When open sewer pipes and factory pipes pumped waste into our rivers, it was much easier to know what to do. But today, in the majority of the country's watersheds, the biggest source of water pollution is not factories but runoff from a variety of urban, suburban and rural sources. The solutions to that problem are not as simple. How can we respond? By joining together -- citizens' groups, government agencies, community organizations. By working together -- to "adopt" and clean up local watersheds. By making tough decisions and securing tough commitments to address the problems that are still out there. By educating people about what causes pollution and the steps they can take to prevent it. On that note, let me commend the work that is going on right here in Minnesota -- the community groups and river protection groups that working to develop innovative ways to address the problem of polluted runoff -- the businesspeople and farmers who are part of the dialogue -- and the state and local agencies that are determined to find creative solutions. Let me acknowledge the efforts of Senator Wellstone, Congressman Sabo, Governor Carlson and other leaders who have been working together to find ways to reduce agricultural runoff in the Minnesota River basin. We hope that your efforts will show that it is possible to find workable, cost-effective ways to continue to improve the quality of our waters -- and to ensure our future economic progress, as well. Some people might say "we can't have cleaner water because it's just too expensive. It can't be done." But to say that is to ignore the history of the Clean Water Act -- and the fact that those voices have always been proved wrong. Today, as we celebrate the nation's achievements under that historic legislation, let us also use our past success as the cornerstone of our future progress. Let us redouble our efforts to get the job done, and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our children and their children to come. Thank you. And now we are happy to entertain any questions from members of the press. |
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