Photoby Danuta Otfinowski

Clean water is vital to America. It is essential for community drinking water, agriculture, fishing and swimming, birds and other wildlife, and a strong economy. It is a legacy we all hope to leave for our children and grandchildren.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, our clean water and wetlands were disappearing. Lake Erie was declared dead. Ohio's Cuyahoga River was so polluted it caught on fire. Some 60 percent of our streams, lakes, and waters were unfit for fishing or swimming, and more than 300,000 acres of wetlands were being lost to development every year. Americans were outraged and demanded action.

Congress responded in 1972 by enacting the Clean Water Act. Since then we have made continuous progress. Our drinking water is now cleaner and safer than it has been in many years. Lake Erie has recovered. The Cuyahoga River is home to a national recreation area.

But the job is not finished. Some 40 percent of our streams, lakes, and waters are still polluted, and up to 100,000 acres of wetlands are still lost annually. Since 1972 every administration and Congress has continued to build on the commitment to clean water and protecting wetlands—until now. Instead of fighting for more protection for our water, this administration and some in Congress have made proposals that could remove 20 percent of America's wetlands from protection under the Clean Water Act.

This is the wrong debate at the wrong time.

Wetlands are the foundation for clean water. They provide critical habitat for wildlife—from plentiful birds, like ducks and shorebirds, to the at-risk species on the Audubon WatchList, including the prairie warbler, the short-eared owl, and the snowy plover. In addition to providing clean water for people and habitat for wildlife, wetlands are also essential for flood control.

This should be a time to continue making our country's waterways cleaner and healthier, not questioning whether some of them need to be protected at all. Most Americans feel this debate ended more than 30 years ago and that we should be getting on with finishing the job.

Audubon is working in Washington and around the country to advocate for clean water and for protecting America's wetlands. To learn more about this issue and about how you can help, visit www.audubon.org and click on "Take Action" at the top of the page.