Since 1972, the Clean Water Act has made significant strides in cleaning up U.S. waterways. Unfortunately, the law's goals of eliminating the discharge of pollutants into waterways by 1985 and making all U.S. waters safe for fishing, swimming, and other uses by 1983 have not been met. Today, more than 40% of U.S. waterways are unsafe for these basic activities.

Our new report, Troubled Waters, shows that more than 62% of U.S. facilities discharged more pollution into waterways than their Clean Water Act permits allow, and the average facility exceeded its permit by more than 275%, or nearly 4 times the legal limit.

Despite this, the Bush administration has proposed or enacted numerous rollbacks to the Clean Water Act that will allow industries to dump more pollution into rivers, lakes and streams and developers to drain and fill critical wetlands. In 2003, the Bush administration put in place one of its most harmful policies, a "No Protection" policy for America's waters. This No Protection policy eliminates longstanding federal protections for many small streams and wetlands that feed and clean our great waters.

Federal and state officials should work together to meet the goals of the Clean Water Act by protecting all U.S. waterways and put more environmental cops on the beat. One of the most important actions for members of Congress to take is to support the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act, a bill that ensures all waters in the U.S., from the Great Lakes to backyard streams, remain protected by the Clean Water Act.