the EPA to strengthen Clean Water Act enforcement

Since the EPA has been under heat recently for NOT punishing tens of thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act in the past 10 years, it's trying to make a comeback and vow for better enforcement.

The agency has not settled on a list of potential targets, but is likely to focus on mining companies, large livestock farms, municipal wastewater treatment plants and construction companies that operate sites where polluted stormwater has run into nearby lakes and rivers.

...One witness described the impact of those lapses. Judy Treml, of Wisconsin, told lawmakers that her 6-month-old daughter was hospitalized after drinking water that had become contaminated when a nearby farm covered its land with manure, which then seeped into her family’s well. One of the problems, lawmakers said, is that such pollution often goes unpunished or is outside the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. full article. full article