We all need fresh water to survive, yet it's so ubiquitous most of us barely spare it a thought in our daily lives. This hour we take a look at the state of water in our country, from rivers and streams to the water that comes out of our taps.
We hear from an author who says our modern society in the US has taken clean water for granted; however, with global climate change, we are going to have to bring water back to the forefront of the way we plan our world and our lives.
We also hear about proposed changes from the EPA that could impact which waterways are protected from pollution.
And we get an update about Connecticut’s state water plan. We ask: what are some of the biggest challenges are for the future of water in our state?
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
GUESTS:
- David Schultz - Reporter who covers water issues at Bloomberg Environment (@davidbschultz)
- Greg Hladky - Environment and Agriculture Reporter for the Hartford Courant (@GregoryBHladky)
- Charles Fishman - Investigative Reporter and author of The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water. He wrote an essay, The Rediscovery of Water, for Trends magazine's “Future of Water” issue (@cfishman)
- Alicea Charamut - River Steward, Connecticut, at the Connecticut River Conservancy (@AliceaC)
READING LIST:
Trend: The Rediscovery of Water (Charles Fishman, March 2019) – “At the start of the 20th century, we figured out how to make water reliably clean and safe: run it through a sand filter, add a little chlorine. In the space of 10 years, drinking water in cities across the U.S. and Europe went from being an odious font of disease to a source of health, providing a foundation for big cities to flourish.”
NPR: Trump EPA Proposes Major Rollback Of Federal Water Protections (December 2018)- “The proposal, announced Tuesday at the Environmental Protection Agency, would change the EPA's definition of "waters of the United States," or WOTUS, limiting the types of waterways that fall under federal protection to major waterways, their tributaries, adjacent wetlands and a few other categories.”
Hartford Courant - Massachusetts city agrees to clean up pollution it’s been sending into Connecticut River and Long Island Sound (Greg Hladky, February 2019) – “Raw sewage released by the City of Holyoke, Mass., has been flowing down the Connecticut River and into Long Island Sound for decades, but that kind of pollution will now be halted under a federal consent decree agreed to by the city.”
Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
