III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 714 

Encouraging the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 

maintain and strengthen requirements under the Clean Water Act and 

reverse ongoing administrative actions to weaken the Clean Water Act 

and protections for waters of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 

Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, Mr. 

HEINRICH, Ms. HARRIS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. MARKEY) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

RESOLUTION 

Encouraging the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to maintain and strengthen requirements 

under the Clean Water Act and reverse ongoing administrative actions to weaken the Clean Water Act and protections for waters of the United States. 

Whereas access to clean water is a fundamental human right; 

Whereas the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (62 Stat. 

1155, chapter 758) was enacted into law in 1948; 

Whereas the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92–500; 86 Stat. 816) were 

enacted with bipartisan support and significantly reorganized and expanded the Federal Water Pollution Control 


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Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) (commonly known as and 

hereinafter referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Clean 

Water Act’’); 

Whereas the Clean Water Act is one of the most important 

laws of the United States and the principal safeguard of 

the United States against unregulated pollution or destruction of surface waters of the United States; 

Whereas the objective of the Clean Water Act is to ‘‘restore 

and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters’’; 

Whereas the Clean Water Act declared national goals of 

eliminating the discharge of pollutants into the waters of 

the United States by 1985 and, wherever attainable, ensuring that waters were fishable and swimmable by 1983; 

Whereas the Clean Water Act provides strong and comprehensive requirements for the control of pollutants in 

the waters of the United States; 

Whereas the Clean Water Act authorizes Federal financial 

assistance for building and upgrading municipal sewage 

treatment plants and other types of water quality improvements projects; 

Whereas rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and other 

waters have enormous public health, community welfare, 

economic, and ecological importance to the United States, 

considering that— 

(1) 1 in 3 individuals in the United States receive 

drinking water from systems that draw supply from 

headwater, intermittent, or ephemeral streams; 

(2) according to a report of the Environmental Protection Agency, streams provide the majority of water to 

most rivers and ‘‘transport sediment, wood, organic matVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:06 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR714.IS SR714

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ter, nutrients, chemical contaminants, and many of the 

organisms found in rivers’’; 

(3) chemical, physical, and biological processes in 

streams can convert nitrogen and other nutrients, preventing nitrogen and other nutrients from causing downstream harm; 

(4) wetlands prevent and minimize flooding by storing as much as between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 gallons 

of water for each acre of wetland; 

(5) wetlands and other waters in the flood plains of 

rivers and streams help prevent pollution from reaching 

downstream waters; 

(6) 3⁄4 of fish harvested commercially depend on wetlands; 

(7) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

reported that ‘‘about 91 million people over the age of 16 

swim in oceans, lakes, and rivers each year in the United 

States’’; 

(8) approximately 37 percent of water withdrawals, 

or 118,000,000,000 gallons of water withdrawals per day, 

are used for irrigation, and 52 percent of water withdrawals are taken from surface waters; 

(9) a recent study estimated that wetlands around 

the world provide ecosystem services like flood prevention 

and pollution filtration worth more than 

$47,000,000,000,000 per year; 

(10) fishing and other water sports contribute 

$175,000,000,000 annually to the economy of the United 

States and support more than 1,500,000 jobs; 

(11) companies often need clean water in their industrial processes or as a component of their end product, such as craft beer brewers that depend on a reliable 

source of clean water, add approximately 


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$76,000,000,000 annually to the economy of the United 

States, and support more than 500,000 jobs; 

(12) according to 1 study, the ecological restoration 

economy, which includes mitigation for harms to waters 

due to discharges of dredged or fill material, ‘‘directly 

employs 126,000 workers and generates $9.5 billion in 

economic output’’ per year, which ‘‘supports an additional 95,000 jobs and $15 billion in economic output 

through indirect (business-to-business) linkages and increased household spending’’; 

(13) more than 318,000,000 individuals visited national parks in the United States in 2018 to engage in 

recreation and be inspired by thundering waterfalls, 

streaming geysers, desert springs, ocean beaches, and 

jeweled lakes, generating $40,000,000,000 for the economy of the United States and more than 330,000 private 

sector jobs; 

(14) the Environmental Protection Agency reports 

that the Great Lakes contain ‘‘84% of North America’s 

surface fresh water’’ and ‘‘about 21% of the world’s supply of surface fresh water’’; 

(15) restoring and protecting the Great Lakes and 

their tributaries also protects the $6,000,000,000,000 regional economy of the Great Lakes and the 1,500,000 

jobs and $62,000,000,000 in wages directly connected to 

the Great Lakes; and 

(16) the Great Lakes and their tributaries facilitate 

nearly $16,000,000,000 in annual spending by residents 

and the 37,000,000 hunters, anglers, bird watchers, and 

other tourists who visit the region for recreation; 

Whereas water pollution and the loss of water resources can 

cause catastrophic harm to the health and economic 

strength of communities, evidenced by the fact that— 


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(1) in 2014, a harmful algal bloom in western Lake 

Erie prompted a 3-day shutdown of the drinking water 

supply of Toledo, Ohio, affecting approximately 500,000 

individuals; 

(2) a spill of a toxic chemical into the Elk River in 

Charleston, West Virginia, caused a cutoff of drinking 

water for approximately 300,000 individuals for several 

days; 

(3) outbreaks of blue-green algae and red tide in 

Florida have caused widespread harm to businesses and 

have killed a substantial number of aquatic animals over 

multiple years, with the effects of the outbreaks in 2018 

being particular severe; 

(4) in 2008, the coal ash waste pit of the Tennessee 

Valley Authority near Kingston, Tennessee, experienced a 

mammoth structural failure and released more than 

1,000,000,000 tons of waste into the Emory and Clinch 

Rivers, and a 2019 analysis found that similar pits 

around the country routinely leak and contaminate nearby groundwater and surface waters; 

(5) beaches in multiple States, including Mississippi, 

New Jersey, Washington, and New York, were forced to 

close due to outbreaks of algae that are commonly fueled 

by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution; 

(6) intense flooding is occurring in places like Houston, Texas, where wetland destruction is believed to be 

contributing to the severity of the flooding; and 

(7) many areas of the United States are expected to 

experience worsened drought conditions with climate 

change, making the preservation of water resources more 

critical; 

Whereas the Clean Water Act dramatically slowed the rate of 

wetlands loss in the United States from more than 


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500,000 acres annually in the 1950s to approximately 

80,000 acres annually in the late 1990s; 

Whereas the quality of numerous water bodies has substantially improved since the adoption of the Clean Water 

Act, including the Charles River in Massachusetts, the 

Chesapeake Bay, and the Great Lakes; 

Whereas, despite the improvements brought about by the 

Clean Water Act, the United States still faces major 

water resource and pollution challenges, evidenced by the 

fact that— 

(1) according to the most recent State data submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency— 

(A) 53 percent of assessed rivers and streams 

do not meet 1 or more water quality standards, 

which are established to ensure waters are clean 

enough for specific uses like fishing and swimming; 

(B) 71 percent of assessed lakes, reservoirs, 

and ponds are impaired; 

(C) 80 percent of assessed bays and estuaries 

are impaired; and 

(D) 72 percent of assessed coastal shoreline 

waters are impaired; and 

(2) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

published a report stating that the increasing frequency 

of harmful algal blooms is associated with increasing 

temperatures and levels of nutrients in waters of the 

United States; 

Whereas the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card of the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the wastewater infrastructure of the United States a grade of D+; 

Whereas the most recent Clean Watersheds Needs Survey report to Congress identified not less than 


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$271,000,000,000 worth of capital needs for wastewater, 

storm water, and other clean water infrastructure; 

Whereas the condition of the waters of the United States consistently ranks as one of the most acute environmental 

worries of individuals in the United States, with 80 percent of respondents in a March 2019 Gallup Poll indicating that they worry a great deal or a fair amount 

about the pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs; 

Whereas the United States Commission on Civil Rights recommended further study and analysis of Federal laws, including the Clean Water Act, to analyze gaps in civil 

rights protections and found that the ‘‘EPA’s definition 

of environmental justice recognizes environmental justice 

as a civil right, fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies’’; 

Whereas the United States Geological Survey conducted limited monitoring of 17 perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl 

substances (referred to in this preamble as ‘‘PFAS’’) in 

source and treated public water supplies from 25 drinking water facilities and found PFAS in all source water 

and public water supply samples collected; 

Whereas a study led by Harvard University researchers found 

that the drinking water supplies for not less than 

6,000,000 individuals in the United States exceed the 

health advisory of the Environmental Protection Agency 

for 2 PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (commonly referred 

to as ‘‘PFOA’’) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (commonly referred to as ‘‘PFOS’’), and more recent information indicates that more comprehensive monitoring would 


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find that the drinking water of many times more than 

6,000,000 individuals in the United States contains 

PFAS at levels that pose significant health hazards; 

Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency has initiated 

numerous administrative actions that collectively would 

eviscerate the protections of the Clean Water Act and 

other safeguards for clean water, including— 

(1) repealing science-based protections for streams, 

wetlands, and other waters and the exclusion of millions 

of miles of streams and tens of millions of acres of wetlands from the pollution control programs of the Clean 

Water Act; 

(2) easing restrictions on wastewater plants, authorizing the plants to release partially treated sewage during 

rainstorms; 

(3) refusing to develop regulations mandated by the 

Clean Water Act aimed at avoiding and minimizing spills 

of hazardous substances; 

(4) weakening rules relating to the siting, operating, 

monitoring, and closing of pits where coal ash and other 

coal combustion waste is dumped; 

(5) exempting polluters who harm waterways from 

the penalties of the Clean Water Act if their discharge 

first travels through groundwater from the discharge permitting program of the Clean Water Act; 

(6) restricting the authority of experts from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water 

Act to stop dumping projects that cause unacceptable 

harms to water bodies; 

(7) delaying and weakening toxic pollution discharge 

limits for power plants; and 

(8) curtailing the rights of States and Tribal nations 

under the Clean Water Act to review federally permitted 


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projects and impose conditions on or reject a project, as 

appropriate, to prevent harm to their waterways; 

Whereas the United States remains far from achieving the 

objective of the Clean Water Act by putting critical resources that provide enormous value to the United States 

at risk; and 

Whereas the proposed actions of the Environmental Protection Agency would substantially worsen the risk to critical resources: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate encourages the Adminis2 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency to— 

3 (1) maintain and strengthen, rather than at4 tack, requirements that keep waterways of the 

5 United States clean; 

6 (2) end any ongoing administrative actions that 

7 weaken— 

8 (A) existing regulations that were promul9 gated under the Federal Water Pollution Con10 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and 

11 (B) other requirements protecting the 

12 waters of the United States; and 

13 (3) initiate actions to reverse any administra14 tive actions that have already been completed that 

15 weaken the implementation by the Federal Govern16 ment of— 

17 (A) the Federal Water Pollution Control 

18 Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and 


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1 (B) other requirements that protect the 

2 waters of the United States. 

Æ 


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