"Half a century after the Clean Water Act became law, the United States is still far from the goal of having all of its waters clean enough that people can fish and swim in them.
A new report released by the Environmental Integrity Project found that half of the rivers and streams and more than half of the lakes in the United States that have been assessed are polluted to the point that they are considered impaired.
When the Clean Water Act was passed, the goal was to have the nation’s waters clean enough for fishing and swimming by 1983. The Environmental Integrity Project calls its report “The Clean Water Act at 50: Promises Half Kept at the Half Century Mark.”
In New Mexico, about 7 percent of the streams and rivers and 77 percent of the lakes have been assessed. Of those assessed waters, about 66 percent of the rivers and streams are considered impaired, as are about 86 percent of the lakes.
The leading cause of impairment nationwide is agriculture, often in the form of waste from livestock. This is especially noticeable when there are factory farms that concentrate large numbers of livestock in small areas."
Hannah Grover reports for the NM Political Report March 21, 2022.
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