Dirty Dozen report celebrates Clean Water Act anniversary
Nov. 30—This year's Dirty Dozen report looks different than those of past years and highlights victories for environmental justice rather than listing areas of most concern in the state.
The Georgia Water Coalition released Tuesday its annual "Dirty Dozen" report to bring attention to the importance of cleaning up waterways in the state.
This year's report, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, highlights 12 landmark legal actions that have shaped the implementation of the legislation in Georgia.
Previous Dirty Dozen reports have shined a light on present threats to the health of Georgia's water. This year's report looks back at actions that corrected situations to improve the health of the state's water and the people and wildlife that depend on it.
The Clean Water Act was passed by Congress in October 1972. The law included a provision allowing citizens or grassroots citizen groups to file lawsuits against polluters when federal and state regulators failed to enforce the law. The provision has proven critical in cleaning up water pollution problems across the nation, especially in Georgia.
"Many of the 12 legal actions cited in this year's Dirty Dozen report were initiated by citizens and water protection organizations, and the outcomes of these actions helped clarify and strengthen the scope of the landmark federal legislation," according to a news release. "Among the organizations playing a role in the fulfillment of the Clean Water Act's goal of making all of Georgia's water swimmable and fishable are Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Coosa River Basin Initiative, Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, Savannah Riverkeeper and Georgia Wildlife Federation."
The list of cases include Alma v. United States, a 1988 case in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invoked its rarely used veto power to stop the construction of a 1,400-acre recreational reservoir in the small Bacon County town of Alma.
Also featured on the list is Burkhalter v. Claxton Poultry Farms, a 2000 case in which citizens downstream of a Claxton chicken processing plant sued to prevent the continued pollution of their property on the Canoochee River. The lawsuit forced the facility to upgrade its waste management and secured funding to start Canoochee Riverkeeper, which is now the Ogeechee Riverkeeper.
Other featured cases are Sierra Club v. Hankinson, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper v. City of Atlanta, Driscoll v. Adams, United States v. Dalton Utilities, Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, United States v. DeKalb County, and United States v. Wright Brothers Construction & GDOT.
The Georgia Water Coalition is a consortium of more than 285 conservation and environmental organizations, hunting and fishing groups, businesses and faith-based organizations that work to protect the state's waters.
To view the full report, visit www.gawater.org/ resources/dirty-dozen.
