West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign
Recent Doubling of Support -- More Members Desired and Needed
By Pam Moe-Merritt
The West Virginia Rivers Coalition believes that the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary legal tool to ensure the protection of clean water and the clean up of polluted water, nationally and in West Virginia. Unfortunately, there remain a number of Clean Water Act provisions which are either unimplemented or unenforced in West Virginia.
To begin to tackle this problem, we sat down and talked with some folks from various organizations around the state who also use the CWA in their work. The outcome of this conversation was the formation of a working group and a campaign called West Virginians for Clean Water -- an initiative that would be spearheaded by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition.
The agreed upon goal of the West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign is to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the Clean Water Act in West Virginia.
The ten groups who launched this campaign on Earth Day in 1998 include: Potomac Headwaters Resource Alliance, WV Citizen Action Group, WV League of Women Voters, WV Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, WV Highlands Conservancy, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, WV Environmental Council, WV Wildlife Federation and the WV Rivers Coalition.
To date, eleven more groups have signed-on in support of the campaign’s goal. They are: Blue Heron Environmental Network, Cacapon River Committee, Coal River Mountain Watch, Cabin Creek Watershed Association, Student Environmental Network, Green Club of WV Wesleyan College, White Day Creek Watershed Association, Loup Creek Watershed Association, Friends of the Cheat, Mountaineer Chapter Trout Unlimited and Indian Creek Watershed Association.
And while the West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign has more than doubled in size, we are looking for more support!
You and your group or watershed organization may be working on projects that are directly or indirectly impacted by the failure of full implementation of the CWA. You may be already working on CWA implementation by participating in Total Maximum Daily Loads or listing your stream on the state 303(d) list. You are undoubtedly one of many West Virginians who really care about the future of our rivers and streams. Therefore, we ask you to join us in our West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign.
Here’s what signing onto the West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign means to your group:
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enhancing the ability for all of us working on water issues to effect state policy_
the opportunity to sign-on to letters of comment or support regarding clean water issues. It is important to note that each West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign member has a choice as whether or not to sign-on to each letter. We will circulate each letter asking for your endorsement. Signing on to the Campaign does not mean that you have to support or endorse every individual action, but it does mean that you agree with the campaign goal of working to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the Clean Water Act in West Virginia._
the ability to communicate and network with a group of like-minded (and sometimes not so like-minded) folks on water issues_
the opportunity to join an email working group of folks who talk and work on developing comments and policy statements for the campaign_
name recognition and publicity, as we would request listing your name as a campaign member in brochures, newsletters and websites (and yes, we will establish links to your website!)_
the opportunity to receive alerts, news flashes and action items on issues by email_
the satisfaction of helping to keep the rivers you love clean or working to clean them up!_
oops, we almost forgot to mention.......it’s freeThe Problems We Face
Only 42 percent of rivers in West Virginia have water quality that fully supports aquatic life uses. Metals and siltation are the most common water quality problems in our rivers and lakes. Fecal coliforms and acidity also impair a large number of river miles.
More than 7 million pounds of toxic pollution were released in West Virginia in 1997, ranking the state 12th highest in the country for toxic releases to surface waters.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during the period from 1994 to 1996, West Virginia had 199 water systems in violation of EPA standards, which is 12 percent of the state’s systems.
The total population affected by these violations is 247,866 people or 16 percent of our state’s population.
What You Can Do
We are hopeful that you will join the West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign and help solve these problems together. This effort will require large numbers of people and diverse resources to work. We want to pool people and blend resources to work towards fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters throughout West Virginia. To join the West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign, please sign and return the adjacent form and together we’ll go to work to conserve and restore our wonderful rivers and streams!
If you would like to learn more or have a West Virginians for Clean Water Campaign representative come talk to your organization, please feel free to contact us at (304) 637-7201 or by email wvrc@neumedia.net.
Pam Moe-Merritt is the conservation program director for the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and is the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy’s Rivers Committee Chair.