Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.

Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue

Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!

Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.

Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week.

Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue

Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits.

Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?

What’s going on?

After the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, Americans saw a dramatic decline in the pollution of our waterways. But that progress has been eroded. Policies adopted following Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 undermined the Clean Water Act by creating uncertainty about which waterways were covered. Since then, the EPA has failed to prosecute hundreds of polluters who benefit from the confusion, and countless streams, ponds and wetlands are currently threatened, potentially affecting the drinking water of more than 117 million Americans. Ad Policy

What can I do?

The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers have proposed a new rule that would help protect these vital waterways but polluters want to block these critical changes. Join The Nation and the Natural Resources Defense Council in calling on Congress to defend our nation’s water.

Learn more:

Storm-water runoff is another major source of the pollution in our rivers, lakes and coastal areas. In The Nation, Madeline Ostrander reports on the pollution pressure a growing population is putting on Puget Sound and its impact on the salmon, clams and other seafood and shellfish local Indian tribes depend on.

In a video accompanying Ostrander’s article, members of the Suquamish tribe and local environmental activists discuss the importance of fishing to the tribe and the local community, as well as the danger that storm-water runoff poses to their way of life.