Stop More Pollution in West Virginia’s Rivers and Streams!
West Virginia’s waters are at risk of additional pollution. Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11, at 11:00 AM, the House will meet on a bill that will remove certain streams from receiving Category A drinking water protections, allowing more toxic pollutants to flow into our rivers and streams. We need your voice to stop this rollback!
What’s Happening? WV’s waters have different water quality standards to protect different uses; aquatic life, drinking water, and recreation. For decades, West Virginia has enforced Category A drinking water standards across the state to protect public health. Category A puts the most stringent limits on toxic pollutants discharged into rivers and streams that provide our drinking water. But now, chemical and manufacturing companies are pressuring lawmakers to change the use and remove these protections on smaller streams where no one is currently using the waters for drinking. The problem with this thinking is that these smaller streams still flow downstream into our water supplies. Removing Category A protections on any stream will allow industry to discharge more pollutants into our waterways.
How did we get here? Every 3 years, the state updates our water quality standards. Those updates were available for public comment in August, and the proposed updates were submitted for Legislative approval. At that time, there were no proposals to remove Category A protections from our waterways. Shockingly, the proposed updates to water quality standards were modified behind closed doors, and House Bill 2233 was amended by the Energy and Public Works Committee to include a process to strip Category A protections from smaller streams after the public comment period for the updates to water quality standards had already closed, leaving West Virginians without a say in the decision.
What You Need to Know: HB 2233 is at the amendment stage on the House floor tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11. We need you to ask your Delegates to support the new floor amendment that will protect West Virginia streams from increased pollution. If House Bill 2233 passes without the new floor amendment, it would allow the Category A drinking water use for waterways to be downgraded, weakening crucial pollution restrictions. This means more toxic chemicals, industrial waste, and dangerous pollutants could be discharged into the waters that flow into our communities.
This is about more toxic pollution in our streams — period. If Category A protections are removed, pollution discharge permits for facilities that discharge to these streams will no longer have to meet more stringent water quality standards for a long list of pollutants that harm human health, including dozens of carcinogens that pose severe health risks.
Some pollutants that could increase with the passage of House Bill 2233:
- Benzene, which can cause leukemia, will increase by 83%.
- Methylene chloride, linked to nervous system, liver, heart, skin, and eye damage, will increase by 126%.
- Vinyl chloride, known to increase the risk of lung, brain, and liver cancers, will increase by 72%.
Why This Matters
- Increased levels of harmful chemicals in rivers and streams will mean greater health risks for people;
- Downstream water systems will bear the burden, increasing treatment costs for utilities and making safe drinking water harder to maintain;
- Industry stands to save money because they can spend less treating their toxic discharges — but West Virginians will pay the price.
We Must Act Now! West Virginians deserve cleaner water, not more pollution. Similar rollbacks have been rejected before — we must make sure this one is, too.
Tell your legislators: Support the floor amendment being offered on Tuesday to HB2233 and keep pollution out of our water!
Complete the form now to send a message to your State Representative today. Our water, our health, and our future depend on it!
