No quality of life without clean water

As the Trump administration destroys environmental regulations to favor industry, it’s discouraging how our government fails us. While we wait for the EPA inspector general to investigate administrator Scott Pruitt’s custom-built $25,000 soundproof “privacy booth,” let’s consider what we can do closer to home.

Water is in the news lately — let’s start there. During this cold snap, officials from Alabama to North Carolina urged residents to run water through their spigots to prevent burst pipes.

Thousands of residents wasted untold gallons of clean water, per official guidance! This cold weather, while unusual, is not unprecedented. Why not simply strengthen local building codes to safeguard against winter conditions? When considered against the plight of local residents in our Mountaintop area, who lack clean water for drinking and bathing, the idiocy of this guidance becomes starker.

Next, consider threats from the Toll Brothers or the consumption of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from our streams and aquifers for gas drilling, and now the Nestle bottling factory.

There is no quality of life without clean water, and “more jobs” cannot change this reality. Our military predicts that future wars will be fought over water. Florida is already suing Georgia over water use.

What to do? Public radio programs like “State Impact Pennsylvania” and “The Allegheny Front” offer excellent reporting about local environmental issues. Listen, learn and tell your representatives at all levels of government that we need a better balance between industrial development and access to clean water.

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 11:39 PM with the headline "No quality of life without clean water."