September 2009 Vol. 64 No. 9
Newsline
EPA Takes New Steps To Improve Water Quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made available comprehensive reports and data on water enforcement in all 50 states.
This is part of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s larger effort to enhance transparency, promote the public’s right to know about water quality and provide information on the EPA’s actions to protect water under the Clean Water Act.
In a memorandum, Administrator Jackson directed EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) to develop an action plan to enhance public transparency regarding clean water enforcement. In the memo, she also calls for stronger enforcement performance at federal and state levels and a transformation of EPA’s water quality and compliance information systems.
In keeping with this directive, EPA has posted detailed information on the current state of clean water compliance and enforcement in each state, and copies of the latest clean water enforcement and compliance performance reports for each state to the agency’s Web site. EPA also launched new Web-based tools to help the public search, assess and analyze the data the agency used to help prepare those reports.
For information on the state reports and EPA and state enforcement data: www.epa.gov/compliance
For a copy of the administrator’s memorandum: www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/performance/cwa/jackson-ltr-cwa-enf.html
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