Environmental Issues: Water

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All Documents in Water Tagged midwest

Protecting a Shared Future
Assessing and Advancing the Sustainable Management of the Great Lakes through Water Conservation and Efficiency
Issue Paper

The Great Lakes form the largest surface freshwater system on the Earth, containing nearly 20 percent of the world's and 96 percent of the United States’ total supply of fresh surface water. More than 40 million people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water, fishing, recreation, and commerce, and more than 1.5 million U.S. jobs are directly connected to the region. Although the waters of the Great Lakes are vast, they are not inexhaustible.

Missing Protection
Polluting the Mississippi River Basin's Small Streams and Wetlands
Report

Our nation's rivers, streams, and small bodies of water are in danger because of recent interpretations of the Clean Water Act that suggest that many waters historically protected from pollution can now be polluted or destroyed without a permitting process to limit the environmental impact of discharges into the waters. This October 2008 issue paper discusses the changes in relation to the problem of nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin.

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