(AmericanProsperity.com) – A Supreme Court Decision has been reached that would strip the protections for America’s wetlands, and this could have a huge impact on rivers that supply drinking water to residents in the United States.
The most affected waterways due to this decision are the rivers of New Mexico. The Supreme Court decision in Sackett v EPA said that they would remove decades of safeguards under the Clean Water Act for over half the nation’s wetlands.
Tom Kiernan, president and CEO of environmental nonprofit American Rivers said, “When you look at the most endangered rivers this year, most of them are a result of that. Those stretches of small streams that lead into the rivers or wetlands that support these rivers are no longer protected.”
Due to the lack of protection, almost ninety-six percent of the New Mexico streams are all vulnerable to pollution and there is a possibility that it could affect other places downstream such as the Rio Grande, Gila, San Juan, and Pecos Rivers.
For a lot of places, including Santa Fe, the supply of drinking water is somewhat reliant on the protection of small streams that run from larger rivers. “The Sackett decision has stripped away those protections and our residents are now at risk,” said the Santa Fe County Commissioner for District 2 Anna Hansen.
Rivers that are used for drinking water face many dangers, such as climate change, pollution, and even dams, which are causing harmful bacteria or algae to grow in the waters.
Kiernan expressed his concerns, saying, “The combination of climate change stressing our rivers and the Supreme Court deciding to stop the protections for half of our wetlands — that creates a combination that profoundly threatens our rivers.”
Many are worried about what will happen as people have depended on these water sources for years and now they could be vulnerable and potentially not safe for consumption in some areas after the newest legislation.
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