40% Of Waters In U.S. Still Too Polluted Despite Cleanup Efforts, Many Lakes, Rivers Too Dirty For Fishing, Swimming

Nearly 40 percent of lakes, rivers and streams in the United States are too dirty for fishing and swimming in spite of major federal efforts to combat water pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency reported in a two-year study released Thursday.

The figures, consistent with a similar analysis of pollution in major water bodies issued in 1992, indicates that the battle for cleanup of the nation’s waters remains far from won, EPA administrator Carol M. Browner said.

The study, drawing from data gathered in 1992 and 1993, indicates that agricultural runoff containing pesticide residues or other pollutants poses the biggest threat to some water bodies. Those sources contribute about 60 percent of the pollution found in rivers and half of pollution in lakes, the study said. Storm sewers and municipal sewage treatment plants are also major pollution sources, the study added.

In order to dramatize the potential problems of dirty water, Vice President Gore and Browner released the report together at the Maryland-based Potomac Water Treatment facility. The plant processes water from the Potomac River to provide drinking water for more than 1 million people in the Maryland suburbs.

But GOP-proposed budget cuts will significantly hamper federal efforts to clean water bodies and provide safe drinking water to the public, Gore said.

The proposed budget includes a cut of 30 percent, or $462 million, from the administration request for funds for states to build wastewater treatment plants and a similar cut of 45 percent, or $225 million, in funds to be used by communities to protect their drinking water.

“We must not allow the Republican budget to roll back the progress of the past 25 years,” Gore told reporters.

Many Republican lawmakers have argued that federal environmental statues impose an unduly heavy burden on industry while proving only modest improvements in the environment. The House of Representatives earlier this month voted to cut EPA funding by 22.5 percent from the amount requested by the administration for the coming fiscal year - 14 percent from fiscal 1995 spending levels. Thursday the Senate approved similar reductions.

Nitrates used in fertilizers and phosphates from detergents are among the biggest pollutants found in the water bodies tested, the study said. Bacteria, apparently caused by high levels of sewage, constitute another major water pollutant, affecting more than one third of all pollutants found in rivers, the EPA study said. Heavy levels of bacteria, which can cause illness in swimmers, makes many of the water bodies tested unswimmable.

Excessive levels of silt, found in 34 percent of all polluted rivers, are also a major problem, the study said.

The effects of water pollution often show up in fish contaminated with mercury or other substances. Of the 1,500 fish consumption advisories issued across the country in 1994, nearly three-quarters warned of high levels of mercury.

The EPA conducts a study of the nation’s water bodies every two years. Samples for the 1995 report were collected in 1992 and 1993. They were taken from 17 percent of the nation’s rivers, 42 percent of lakes and 78 percent of bays and estuaries.