Eighty Percent of U.S. Wetlands at Risk: Why WOTUS Matters to You
By: Waterkeeper Alliance
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released a proposed revision to the Clean Water Act (CWA) definition of “waters of the United States,” (WOTUS) opening the door for one of the most dramatic rollbacks of clean water protections in modern history. What happens in the coming months could determine the fate of millions of acres of wetlands, countless rivers, lakes, and streams, and the drinking water for communities across the country.
If adopted, this rule would wipe out protections for nearly every major category of U.S. waters. Interstate waters would disappear entirely as a protected category. Rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands that clearly influence downstream water quality would be written out of the law if they cannot meet narrow, scientifically unsupported criteria. And any wetland that does not physically touch a jurisdictional water could be treated as if it does not exist.
It may sound technical, but the consequences are painfully simple. If a waterbody loses its legal status under the Clean Water Act, then polluters are free to dump industrial waste, sewage, toxins, carcinogens, and even radioactive materials into it without federal safeguards. That contamination doesn’t stay put. It flows into drinking water supplies. It kills fish. It sickens children. It undermines local economies and puts families at risk.
The agencies’ own analysis shows that more than 80 percent of mapped wetlands in the continental United States would lose protection under this rule. That is 73.5 million acres of natural flood prevention, water filtration, carbon storage, and irreplaceable habitat left exposed to destruction. Wetlands are not obstacles to progress. They are some of the most efficient natural systems we have to protect communities, reduce flooding, store carbon, and maintain clean water.
The Supreme Court has already stripped away significant protections, and this proposal goes even further. The agencies have not even quantified the rivers, ponds, streams, and lakes that would lose protection, but the implications are clear. Waters ranging from the Colorado River, to the Everglades, to local creeks running behind our homes could all face more pollution and less oversight. We do not have to imagine what that looks like. Before the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, rivers literally caught fire. Wildlife collapsed. Polluters released waste unchecked. Communities paid the price.
We cannot go back.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argues that narrowing the definition will reduce the cost of doing business. But the math ignores reality. Polluted water raises treatment costs for cities, increases health care expenses for families, destroys fisheries, undermines tourism, and heightens the cost of flood disasters. Gutting protections for smaller streams always harms the larger waters they feed, and businesses downstream pay the price.
A strong, clear definition of “waters of the United States” is essential for protecting drinking water, reducing toxic exposure, and safeguarding the health of waterways in every corner of the country. Weakening that definition does not make regulation simpler. It makes communities more vulnerable.
If we are not vigilant, decades of progress toward cleaner, healthier waterways could vanish in an instant. We will not let that happen. Protecting water means protecting people, and that must come before corporate profit.
We’ve been here before. We know what happens when protections disappear. And we know what it takes to stop the rollback.
Now we need to do it again.
From fighting the rollback of the Clean Water Rule to challenging the WOTUS definition in court, Waterkeeper Alliance has never backed down from defending clean water. Our resolve is stronger than ever. We are mobilizing communities, engaging in the federal process, and making sure polluters do not get the final say. You can help by signing up to our newsletter for the latest updates and supporting this critical work with a generous donation. Every contribution helps protect clean water for the people and places that depend on it.