Clean Water Action is a national grassroots organization with 53,000 members in Maryland. We work for clean, safe, and affordable water, whether in the streams, rivers or Chesapeake Bay, or from the tap through grassroots organizing, policy work, and campaigns. Check out our current priority campaigns:
- From trash incineration to zero waste in Maryland
- Safer septic systems for Maryland
- Sustainable Farms in Maryland
- Environmental Justice in Maryland and the Chesapeake
- 2022 Legislative Wrap Up
Our current local priority campaigns:
In Maryland, we work in four general policy areas:
Water
Marylanders have a strong affinity for their water resources, whether the Chesapeake Bay, freshwater lakes and rivers, or the neighborhood stream. We need to follow through on our pollution reduction commitments in order to protect these waterways that serve us culturally, recreationally, economic, and in many cases, these waterways that we drink.
- Chesapeake Bay: Agricultural pollution, stormwater runoff, wastewater treatment plants, and septic systems continue to pollute the local streams and rivers that ultimately feed the Chesapeake Bay.
- Drinking Water: Marylanders get their drinking water from two different sources: groundwater or surface water. The water system is highly interconnected, and the land use decisions we make have lasting impacts on the quality and affordability of water.
Climate
Cleaning our water and air means both reducing dirty energy and promoting clean energy. Clean Water works with a diverse coalition of organizations to support cleaner energy sources and a transportation system that moves more people with fewer emissions. Through our work on zero waste, we seek to reduce waste going to landfills and incinerators through source reduction and diversion of organic material into compost facilities that can turn waste into a soil amendment that can sequester carbon and rebuild our soil microbiome.
Environmental Justice
Every community in the state of Maryland deserves to have their health and envionrmental safety treated with equity and integrity. Clean Water believes that your health and quality of life should not be determined by your zip code. We work with overburdened communities to ensure their voices are heard.
Equitable Development
Where and how we grow has an enormous impact on our air, water, climate, and finances. Clean Water is committed to inclusive processes that protect communities and the environment so that our families, neighborhoods, and local economies thrive. We need development in the right places, an equitable transportation system, affordable housing, and community input in order to grow better together.
