The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Dennis Kucinich Plan for Clean Water for All
In Summary:

Strengthen and enforce air and water regulation and protections

Reward environmentally-responsible farmers and businesses

Stop privatization of drinking water and sewer systems

Make a major investment in water system infrastructure

Make a financial commitment to providing healthy drinking water to all the world's people

When the Clean Water Act was written in 1972, the goal was to make all waters safe for fishing and swimming. Yet data from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that the nation's water bodies are getting dirtier-nearly half are unsafe. The Clean Water Act has helped to reduce pollution from sewage treatment plants and other direct dischargers, but it has been generally ineffective in controlling polluted runoff from farm fields, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), roads and parking lots, construction sites, oil and gas operations, mining sites, etc.

Overdevelopment of wetlands, which would accelerate under proposed Bush Administration rule changes, destroys nature's natural pollution filters and increases flooding. Subsidies for auto-dependent sprawl and transportation further contribute to runoff pollution. Coal burning utilities add to mercury contamination of lakes from acid rain, a particular health hazard to children and pregnant women.

A quarter of our industrial plants and water treatment plants are in serious violation of pollution standards. Half of the most serious offenders exceed pollution limits on toxic substances by more than 100 percent, yet due to inadequate funding, only a fraction of them face consequences. Those found in violation are often given little more than a slap on the wrist.

While most family farmers are good stewards of the environment, too many communities are being harmed by industrial-style agriculture and its disregard for the environment. Millions of fish have been killed by countless manure spills from overflowing lagoons. Runoff of fertilizers and other contaminants has created a "dead zone" at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Many rural areas have themselves become "dead zones" due to the rapid decline of family-farm agriculture. Residents of rural communities throughout America are suffering the consequences-contaminated well and surface water, gastro-intestinal illnesses, lung problems, neurological damage, and decreases in property values.

Privatization of drinking water and sewer systems, with its accompanying goal of profit above all and its leverage of control over an essential commodity, has produced disastrous outcomes. Privatization contributed to a cholera outbreak in South Africa, and led to filthy, overpriced, undersupplied water in Atlanta. In India, some poor households must pay 25% of their income for water. The list of problems goes on and on.

Under-funded and often antiquated water treatment plants are a thin line of defense between the pollution entering our water bodies and that which comes out of our taps. Pollutants are occurring in alarming amounts in some water systems. Of the 2,000 chemicals commonly found in public drinking water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency tests for only 83. Recent studies show that the average person has more than 30 toxic chemicals in their body. Many states charge nothing for polluters to obtain permits to legally discharge into their rivers, lakes and streams.

According to the United Nations, 2 billion people worldwide are dying or at risk of dying from unsafe drinking water and/or lack of access to adequate sanitation. Water-related diseases are responsible for 80 percent of illnesses and death in the developing world. More than 2 million people, mostly children, die each year from waterborne diseases.

The current Administration has unleashed an unprecedented assault on water quality protection. It permits coal companies to dump fill from blown-up mountains into streams. It has rejected the first President Bush's policy of ensuring no net loss of wetlands, withdrawn proposed rules that would have reduced raw sewage discharges, and dropped proposals to cut storm water pollution from new development. Instead, this Administration seeks to limit the scope of the law, leaving entire classes of waterways unprotected.

Water is the sustainer of all life. We deserve it ourselves, and we owe it to future generations to leave them the gift of clean water. The Kucinich Administration will make clean, healthy water a right for all, strengthening air and water protections. Regulation and enforcement against polluters will be increased, while environmentally responsible farmers and businesses will be rewarded. The Kucinich Administration will work to stop privatization of drinking water and sewer systems, will make a major investment in water system infrastructure, and will make a significant financial commitment to providing healthy drinking water to all the world's people.

Strengthen and enforce air and water regulation and protections

The Kucinich Administration will regulate pollution from CAFOs as industrial discharges subject to permits, limits, and fines for non-compliance. Business and factory farms in violation of regulations will forfeit federal subsidies. Mountain-top removal of coal will be prohibited, and tough controls will be instituted to reduce global warming emissions and acid rain from coal-burning utilities. The Kucinich Administration will provide federal assistance to help states implement and monitor mandatory plans to reduce pollutants entering water bodies, will shift resources to watershed protection, and will increase funding for public transportation programs to reduce auto and sprawl-related water and air pollution.

The Kucinich Administration will increase testing of chemicals prevalent in drinking water bodies, will require manufacturers of toxic chemicals to produce safer alternatives-many of which are currently available-and will make pollution permit fees mandatory, subject to revocation for repeat offenders. Budgets for environmental monitoring and enforcement will be increased, with cleanup costs funded by fees and fines paid by polluters.

Reward environmentally responsible farmers and businesses

A healthy environment and a strong economy should go hand in hand. If we are to be serious about making our water safe, we need a transformation of our economy to one that recognizes environmental costs. The Kucinich Administration will work to greatly expand funding for the Conservation Security Program, a model program that's a win-win-win for farmers, the environment and everyone who lives downstream. Protections for all wetlands will be strengthened. Assistance will be given to state environmental agencies to curtail polluted runoff. Farms and businesses that employ pollution reduction strategies will be encouraged with tax and other incentives. Funding will also be provided to help family farmers meet their environmental responsibilities and make the transition to less chemical-intensive agriculture that increases profits, reduces pollution, and restores our precious water bodies.

Stop privatization of drinking water and sewer systems

Access to water is fundamental. It must not be controlled by private industries and sold only to those who can afford it. The Kucinich Administration will declare that water is a human right, and will work to ensure that all water is kept in the public domain, not controlled by corporations aided by WTO, IMF, and World Bank loan policies. Instead, the Kucinich Administration will take steps to reverse privatization, working for public ownership of drinking water systems subject to municipal control and ending the practice of making water privatization a condition for favorable loan terms.

Make a major investment in water system infrastructure

Current funding to upgrade drinking water and sewer systems is woefully inadequate. The Kucinich Administration will make a major WPA-style investment in water infrastructure improvements to protect the public health and put people back to work. The funds spent will create thousands of jobs, while reducing pressure to sell water supplies and treatment plants to private companies.

Make a financial commitment to providing healthy drinking water to all the world's people

Returning to our ideal of an America of compassion, the Kucinich Administration will at least double annual spending on safe drinking water and sanitation programs in the developing world. We have a moral obligation to take action. If we can afford to spend $100 billion for wars, we can afford to help end the needless suffering of our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Funds will be re-directed from the bloated military budget to help pay for these programs. Supporting alleviation of the suffering of the world's poorest and most desperate people is not only an urgent moral necessity, it will also reestablish the image of the United States as a helping, not conquering, nation.