WHY CLEAN WATER IS IMPORTANT

Clean water is vital to our health, communities, and economy. We need clean water upstream to have
healthy communities downstream. The health of rivers, lakes, bays, and coastal waters depend on the
streams and wetlands where they begin. Streams and wetlands provide many benefits to communities
by trapping floodwaters, recharging groundwater supplies, filtering pollution, and providing habitat for
fish and wildlife. People depend on clean water for their health: About 117 million Americans — one in
three people – get drinking water from streams that were vulnerable to pollution before the Clean
Water Rule. Our cherished way of life depends on clean water: healthy ecosystems provide wildlife
habitat and places to fish, paddle, surf, and swim. Our economy depends on clean water:
manufacturing, farming, tourism, recreation, energy production, and other economic sectors need clean
water to function and flourish