http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/steve-pearce-no-friend-to-americas-waters Albuquerque, NM - Environment New Mexico released an analysis today documenting that Rep. Steve Pearce voted to deny longstanding Clean Water Act protections to many streams and wetlands at a time when 47 percent of New Mexico’s assessed rivers and streams and 69 percent of New Mexico’s assessed lakes are already too polluted for fishing, swimming or other uses. “New Mexico needs a U.S. senator who understands the importance of clean water to the state’s economy and our environment and who will take on the polluters,” said Environment New Mexico Clean Water Advocate Christy Leavitt. “Unfortunately, Rep. Steve Pearce has stood with George Bush and the polluters as they have worked to dismantle America’s protections for clean water.” Environment New Mexico’s online publication documented that Rep. Steve Pearce also: http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/steve-pearce-no-friend-to-americas-waters Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:07:42 -0500 http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/making-every-drop-count http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/making-every-drop-count Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:09:11 -0500 http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/community-water-forum-this-tuesday Water: It does more than fill your Nalgene. Water sustains all life. In fact, water makes up just 2% of our landscape here in New Mexico but nourishes more than 75% of our native fish and wildlife. Here in the arid Southwest, water is our most precious resource. Now, with climate change, persistent drought, population increase, and changing political winds, it’s more important than ever to protect and preserve our waters. Join your fellow citizens and local environmental groups for food, fun, and ACTION during the Community Water Forum and find out how YOU can help protect our waters. Help support the bold initiative to protect New Mexico’s headwaters using the Clean Water Act. Learn about innovative water initiatives happening in your community. Get involved. And have a stake in protecting our environment. Tuesday July 29, 5:30-7:30 PM Bosque School 4000 Learning Road, Albuquerque Presentations given by: WildEarth Guardians, Amigos Bravos, 1000 Friends of NM, and NM Rural Water Users Association Contact watershedguardians@wildearthguardians.org to RSVP or for more information visit www.watershedguardians.org. http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/community-water-forum-this-tuesday Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:41:25 -0500 http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/response-to-ap-story-on-pharmaceuticals-in-tap-water Today’s findings by the Associated Press confirm what Environment America has suspected for some time: that prescription drugs and other medicines are now in the tap water for millions of Americans. Many of the nation’s top health experts have predicted this growing threat for years and have warned about the impending challenge of protecting U.S. drinking water supplies from increased contamination due to pharmaceutical drugs. This is a problem that must be addressed quickly and correctly by local, state and federal officials including local drinking water suppliers and municipal sewage authorities. Environment America promotes a multi-pronged solution to the challenges faced by medicines, hormones and prescription drugs found in our tap water: First, the pharmaceutical industry should prevent the unnecessary flow of its products into our nation’s rivers and bays. Where feasible, drug makers ought to re-engineer their products for more efficient human intake, so there are less excess active ingredients flushed into water systems. Moreover, we should also apply the long-held medical maxim of “first, do no harm” to the large volume of over-the-counter health products. While prescription drugs are at least tested to be “safe and effective” before reaching the market, we ought to at least certify that OTC products yield some benefit for consumers before allowing them to enter our waters as pollution. Ditto for the myriad hormones and antibiotics that are now administered to millions of livestock every year, with little regard for downstream consequences. Secondly, Environment America calls upon the nation’s water and sewage treatment facilities to move quickly and proactively to upgrade the technology at their facilities to protect the American public from these and other drinking water contaminants. Experts and industry spokespeople have stated that studies show that implementing ozone water treatment is the most effective method for removing pharmaceuticals from our drinking water sources, going beyond the traditional use of chlorine which deals with bacterial contamination and some chemicals but usually cannot tackle these newly found prescription drug pollutants. Environment America calls upon the use of the best available technology to proactively address the growing threat of pharmaceutical contamination in the nation’s drinking water supply. Third, Environment America calls on Congress and the Bush administration to dramatically increase the funding for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF) which are the nation’s cornerstone program to help communities upgrade their water and sewage treatment facilities. These projects are important and expensive, and local water authorities are often stretched to the limit when it comes to the extensive financial investments needed to implement these types of projects. EPA has projected that communities across the country will need to spend nearly $400 billion over the next 20 years to improve sewage treatment systems in order to preserve water quality. To ensure clean water, Congress should fund the Clean Water SRF at $1.5 billion and prioritize funding for projects that utilize green infrastructure to reduce polluted runoff. In addition, Congress should fund the Drinking Water SRF at $900 million. Unfortunately, President Bush’s 2009 budget proposal weakens critical clean water programs, cutting the Clean Water SRF to $555 million. This is a cut of $134 million below the FY 08 enacted level and nearly $800 million below the FY 04 funding level of $1.34 billion. The President’s budget takes a huge step backwards when it comes to tackling the issue of pharmaceuticals or other contaminants in America’s drinking water supply and sends the message that protecting public health is a low priority for the current administration. Lastly, Environment America believes that we should require the drug companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay for the increased cost of upgrading sewage treatment plants and drinking water facilities to the extent that their products, when used as intended, are polluting our waterways and drinking water. Safe and healthy drinking water for all Americans should be a right, not a privilege. Yet with the recent celebration of the federal Clean Water Act’s 35th anniversary and the current attention towards this new threat to our tap water, it is critical that our elected officials, chemical manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and local utility and sewage treatment facility managers take the necessary steps to protect public health and ensure clean drinking water for all Americans. http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/response-to-ap-story-on-pharmaceuticals-in-tap-water Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:03:03 -0500