The Water Environment Federation has joined a diverse coalition of businesses, farmers, environmental groups and government agencies in a call to action aimed at heading off a national crisis in water quality and supply that could affect the nation’s economy, the livability of communities, and the health of ecosystems.
“Charting New Waters: A Call to Action to Address U.S. Freshwater Challenges” (www.wef.org/CTAFinal) culminates a two-year collaboration. It was presented to the Obama Administration at a meeting of federal agencies convened by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and released to the public during a noon forum at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
The document represents consensus recommendations of diverse interests convened by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread in Racine, Wis. “Freshwater is our most precious resource and the lifeblood of our economy," said Helen Johnson-Leipold, chairman of foundation. "Water quality in our natural and municipal freshwater systems is vital to the health and livability of our communities. The foundation and its many partners in this collaboration offer the Call to Action as a means of bringing overdue attention to our nation’s freshwater challenges and sparking action to address them.”
The report identifies serious challenges, such as pollution and scarcity; competing urban, rural and ecosystem water needs; climate change; environmental and public health impacts; and a variety of economic implications. It offers actions to confront these threats and a plan to ensure that freshwater resources are secure for the 21st century.
“With aging infrastructure, growing populations and climate change, water will become the defining societal and environmental challenge of the century,” said WEF President Paul Freedman. “We need to rethink our approaches to find sustainable solutions.”
Among the recommendations is a range of management strategies across sectors, such as the streamlining and better coordination of fragmented governance among federal, state and local jurisdictions. Another key need identified in the report is modernizing the freshwater regulatory framework, developed in the 1970s.
"For decades, U.S. water strategy has been cobbled together from diverse, incomplete, and sometimes conflicting policies," said Dr. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, one of the nation's leading water scientists and a co-signer of the report. "We can no longer afford to manage our water that way. The good news is that smart, effective, and innovative solutions to the nation's water problems exist and can be implemented."
