Lets Make the First 100 Days Mean Something for Rivers and Clean Water

President Joe Biden | Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Biden-Harris administration is now in office. After four years of rollbacks and setbacks, now is the time to get to work.

A new administration doesn’t mean threats to rivers and drinking water disappear. We need to make sure they are seeing clean water and healthy rivers as a top priority.

We need to rebuild our nation and economy from the ravages of COVID-19, while also repairing the damage done to rivers and clean water over the past four years. Just look at these facts:

Millions of people in the U.S. lack access to clean, safe, affordable water.
Forty-four percent of assessed waterways in the U.S. are too polluted for fishing and swimming, and forty percent of North America’s freshwater species are at risk of extinction.
Climate change is bringing more severe droughts and floods, putting intense pressure on water resources across the country and disproportionately impacting Black, Latino and Indigenous communities.

The Biden-Harris administration has announced that they will focus on the core issues of justice, the economy, public health and climate change. Rivers run through each of these issues, and can be part of the solutions that strengthen our communities and our nation. This is why we’re declaring the first 100 days of the new administration as 100 Days for Rivers. Stand with us, as we ask the new administration to prioritize rivers and clean water!

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I believe American Rivers has a critical blueprint to restore and protect rivers and clean water, and ask the Biden-Harris administration to prioritize these actions over their first hundred days in office.

Their 2021 Blueprint for Action includes:

- Investing in rivers and clean water to recover from COVID-19: American Rivers recommends Congress invest $500 billion for rivers and clean water over the next 10 years.

- Reversing regulatory rollbacks and restore strong, effective federal protection for rivers and clean water: The Biden-Harris administration must reverse destructive rollbacks and restore bedrock environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

- Improving protection and management of the nation’s floodplains: The Biden-Harris administration and Congress should promote equitable, integrated flood management and prioritize nature-based approaches to manage floods.

- Launching a national initiative to prioritize and fund dam removals: The Biden-Harris administration should prioritize and fund dam removal nd river restoration; review the impacts and true costs of maintaining and operating federal water infrastructure; and, facilitate dam removal and river restoration through the hydropower relicensing process.

- Increasing protection of Wild and Scenic Rivers: The Biden-Harris administration should support Congressional designation of 5,000 miles of new Wild and Scenic Rivers and support the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System with increased funding and research.