Smart Growth America

Want clean water? Support green infrastructure

In America we have something that many parts of the world don’t have: access to clean drinking water. We need to ensure that our water supplies stay clean, fresh, and drinkable for generations to come.

Every time it rains, that rainwater collects oil, chemicals, and other pollutants off impervious surfaces like roads and parking lots. Our overburdened sewer systems can't handle all the extra water, so the polluted runoff enters streams and lakes, polluting the waterways we depend on for clean, fresh water.

We need smarter ways of ensuring our water stays clean. "Green infrastructure" is just another way to describe the proven methods of using natural means like trees or natural areas to safely and effectively filter water. It’s not only an effective way to clean our water, it also benefits the community with green jobs, better public health, and improved air quality.

Please tell your representative today that we need clean water and green infrastructure.

September 03, 2010

Subject:

Dear Representative

I urge you to co-sponsor the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (H.R. 4202), and if you are already a co-sponsor, to encourage your colleagues to join you. Our overburdened sewer systems can't handle the stormwater runoff that carries pollutants into our fragile waterways. With short-sighted land use and transportation decisions that result in more sprawl and more impervious surfaces like parking lots, we spend millions on cleaning our polluted drinking water and cleaning up aquatic habitat. Increasing our sewer capacity is an expensive and ultimately temporary fix. Nature possesses systems that can help keep our water clean and we need to learn from these. By enacting the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act, Congress can preserve our water resources while benefiting communities by saving money on expensive infrastructure, creating green jobs and improving public health and air quality. Please co-sponsor this important piece of legislation.
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