vernal pool in Ohio

A watershed moment for U.S. water quality

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August 14, 2020

By Emily Caldwell, Ohio State News

A new federal rule that determines how the Clean Water Act is implemented leaves millions of miles of streams and acres of wetlands unprotected based on selective interpretation of case law and a distortion of scientific evidence, researchers say in a new publication.

In a Policy Forum article published in the Aug. 14 issue of Science, the researchers assert that the Navigable Waters Protection Rule undermines the spirit – if not the letter – of the Clean Water Act by protecting only waters that have a permanent hydrologic surface connection to rivers, lakes and other large “navigable” bodies of water. Also omitted from consideration is maintaining the integrity of the biological and chemical quality of the nation’s waters, protections that are explicitly called for in the Clean Water Act.

“It’s so important to say, right out of the gates, that the new rule does not protect water in the way that the Clean Water Act was intended to protect water,” said lead author Mažeika Sullivan, director of the Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park at The Ohio State University.

The rule went into effect on June 22.

Left unprotected under the new rule are stand-alone wetlands across the country whose collective area is approximately the size of the state of West Virginia. Among the millions of miles of ephemeral streams – those that flow after precipitation events – losing federal protection are, for example, more than 95 percent of Arizona’s streams, including many tributaries that flow into the Grand Canyon.

The change means that now-unprotected waters may be subjected to a variety of harmful human activities such as dredging or filling in waters for development, or even unpermitted dumping of industrial waste into streams or wetlands. Some potential results: higher risk for floods, loss of biodiversity, and threats to drinking water and recreational fishing.

“We’re talking about major roll-backs in protections that limit activities that impair, pollute and destroy these systems,” said Sullivan, also associate professor in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, who co-authored the article with colleagues specializing in aquatic science, conservation science and environmental law.

Read more about the new Navigable Waters Protection Rule.

Photo courtesy of Mažeika Sullivan. This vernal pool in Ohio is an example of a non-floodplain wetland that is not protected under the new federal rule. These waterbodies are interconnected in many ways with stream and river networks.