Protecting Clean Water in Vermont: a flatlander’s view

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  by Jonathan A. Scott, Managing Editor, Clean Water Action News (@jscottnh on Twitter) First, I admit for the record that I do not live in Vermont. However, I can see Vermont from my house. It’s over there, right on the other side of the beautiful Connecticut River. Also for the record, as a New Hampshire resident only since 1989, my views may carry less weight than a native-born New Englander. If you live here, you know that is because only 2^nd or 3^rd generation Granite Staters are considered true natives. The rest of us “flatlanders” might be living here now, but we are lumped together with all those other folks who live or used to live in Massachusetts, New York or other places to the south. All caveats aside, my perspective on “Vermont’s” water should count for something, just as much as my perspective on clean water here in New Hampshire or in any other state – just as much as your perspective counts. First, all this water doesn’t belong to New Hampshire or Vermont any more than it belongs to me, personally. We all benefit when the water’s clean, and when it’s not, we all share the consequences. In addition, water – and water pollution – are notoriously unconcerned with political boundaries. The expression, “we all live downstream” is popular for a reason. The Connecticut River just down the hill from where I live divides New Hampshire from Vermont. Legally (this was settled some time ago, after years of dispute), all the water in the river belongs to New Hampshire, from the New Hampshire side all the way over to the Vermont shore. That may be true, but any pollution originating on the Connecticut’s Vermont-side tributaries, any development or destruction of wetlands upstream of those tributaries, ends up in “New Hampshire’s” Connecticut River. Not only that, pollution, roads, parking lots, sewage overflows, leaking landfills and just about anything else that happens upstream of the Connecticut River anywhere in New Hampshire or Vermont changes those parts of the Connecticut River that “belong” to all those flatlanders living downstream of us in Massachusetts and Connecticut. We all have a stake in protecting everything upstream. Back to Vermont for a moment. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, almost one thousand miles of small streams feed into drinking water sources for 180,000 Vermonters who get their water from public water systems. Those streams and wetlands associated with them are in trouble today. For much of the past 40 years, these vital resources have benefited from protection under the Clean Water Act. This is the federal law that gives states the tools and funding they need to protect the water, along with minimum cleanup and protection standards. We need Clean Water Act that is strong and effective for obvious reasons. Before the Clean Water Act, most of the Connecticut River was one big open dumping ground for sewage and industrial wastes – totally unswimmable and unfishable. Now the river and its tributaries in Vermont and New Hampshire offer some of New England’s best fishing. Starting in 2002, actions taken by the Bush Administration together with a pair of polluter-friendly Supreme Court rulings have severely compromised the law by throwing into question whether or not critical tributary streams and wetlands are protected. These weakening changes have left drinking water sources for more than 180,000 Vermonters at risk. If we want to keep the Connecticut and its tributaries safe for fishing, swimming and drinking, we also have to protect everything upstream – all the streams and wetlands, not just some of them. That’s how water works. Most people get this. That’s why the “we all live downstream” concept makes sense to most of us. Region wide, many of New England’s most important streams and wetlands are now more vulnerable than ever to pollution and destruction. More than 8.8 million people in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire depend on these resources for their drinking water and more. On March 25, the Obama Administration announced plans to fix the Clean Water Act by restoring protections that have been lost. We have only a few short weeks to get millions of people on record in support of keeping the Clean Water Act strong and effective. The 8.8 million or more of us in Vermont, New Hampshire and the rest of the New England state whose drinking water is on the line would be a great place to start. Take action here: www.cleanwater.org/protect-clean-water Then donate here: www.cleanwater.org/news