Clean Water Act

How the Clean Water Act Protects Our Nation's Waters

The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law that protects our nation’s rivers, lakes, coasts, streams, and wetlands from being polluted or physically damaged.

In 2023, the Supreme Court removed up to two-thirds of wetlands and millions of miles of streams from the law’s protection. Over time, this decision will harm water quality, wildlife and our way of life.

Why the Clean Water Act Matters

Since the Clean Water Act’s passage in 1972, it has transformed countless rivers and bays that were once filled with raw sewage and industrial waste into recreational hotspots filled with fish and other wildlife.

The Clean Water Act:

Protects Water Quality: Despite dramatic population growth, the number of waters meeting water quality standards has doubled since the law’s passage in 1972.
Improves Sewage Treatment: The Clean Water Act has funded 35,000 wastewater projects totaling $650 billion. These grants have benefitted water quality across the country.
Prevents Industrial Pollution: The law prevents 700 billion pounds of pollutants from places like refineries, sewage treatment plants and factory farms from entering our waters each year.
Protects Wetlands: An area of wetlands roughly the size of Maryland – 7.6 million acres – was destroyed in the two decades before the law took effect. The Clean Water Act created consistent protections nationwide, greatly slowing the rate of wetlands loss.

Despite the law’s clear benefits, too many of our nation’s waters still do not meet clean water standards. Agricultural runoff, which the Clean Water Act does not regulate, is now the leading reason waterbodies fail to meet water quality standards. Runoff pollution from urbanizing areas is also a growing problem.

Supreme Court Guts Protections for Wetlands, Streams

In May 2023, a split reasoning in the Supreme Court’s opinion in Sackett v. EPA removed federal protections for nearly two-thirds of America’s wetlands and millions of miles of streams.

The Court ruled that the Clean Water Act only applies to “relatively permanent” bodies of water and wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to those waters. This is a significant change from how the Clean Water Act has been interpreted and applied for fifty years.

Contemplation of Justice statue outside Supreme Court of the United States

Drinking Water Sources at Risk

More than half of the water in America’s larger rivers, like the Mississippi, starts out in the smaller, rain-dependent streams that have lost protections. In drier areas of the country, the proportion is even higher. For example, nearly all of the water in the Rio Grande originates in streams that are now at risk. These changes could reduce the quality and quantity of water reaching rivers and drinking water reservoirs across the country.

Significant Wildlife Impacts

The loss of these protections will have broad impacts on wildlife, affecting hundreds of different animals, and reducing the chances for recovery for many threatened and endangered species. For example, many amphibians breed in seasonal wetlands because the absence of fish makes it safer to raise young. Many turtles, such as wood turtles, lay their nests in floodplains alongside rivers and many migrating birds stopover in newly-unprotected wetlands. Many fish spawn in streams that do not flow year-round or in seasonal floodplains.

Losing Our First Line of Defense Against Flooding

Many urban and coastal wetlands – which do the most to protect people from floods – are particularly likely to have lost protections. In states that lose significant amounts of wetlands, the cost of home insurance could rise in response to rising flood damage claims.

What We’re Doing

The National Wildlife Federation works with our affiliates and partners to protect our waters in Congress, the courts, and in each new Administration. We are committed to restoring federal Clean Water Act protections for all important surface waters including wetlands and streams. In the absence of these protections, we encourage state and local governments to step up and protect these waters. We also advocate for the equitable, effective use of the funding made available via the Clean Water Act.