The strength of our movement lies in working and sharing together. Despite our many challenges, this is truly a time of opportunity to better protect our home waters.

This year, water protection advocates from across the nation will come together in Charleston, South Carolina, a city with a long history, sitting at the confluence of five rivers, and boasting the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

Clean Water Network is participating with EPA on a dialog on climate change and its implications for the EPA National Water Program. EPA published their initial strategy in 2008, and a subsequent 'Key Action Update' just recently. EPA is now working to revise their strategy for FY2012 and beyond. Their vision is to articulate some long term goals,set in a broader national context, and explore some of the key building blocks that need to be put in place to get there.

Register today for the Run for the Gulf 5K benefitting the work of the Clean Water Network. The money raised from this event will support the Clean Water Network's Gulf Assistance Fund and the Gulf Restoration Network, a Clean Water Network member that works on issues surrounding the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The race is scheduled for Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 7:30 at Bluemont Park in Arlington, VA.

The briefing will focus on discussing why the Mississippi River Basin lags behind in funding and resources compared to other Great Waters in the United States (Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, Everglades, etc). A main purpose of the briefing is to identify lessons learned from other regions and explore how we can close the funding gap to help restore and protect the Mississippi River Basin. Generous support for the briefing made possible by McKnight Foundation.

The Choose Clean Water coalition hosted a national conference January 10-12, 2010 in Washington, DC. Modeled after successful, nationally-recognized, annual conferences in the Great Lakes and Everglades, the 2010 Choose Clean Water Conference focused on President Obama's Executive Order on Bay restoration, the approaching deadline for federal Bay clean-up, and the pending Congressional re-authorization of the Bay Program.

Conference workshops and plenary sessions focused at a Federal...

The U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee held a hearing October 15th, to investigate Clean Water Enforcement failures. The hearing focused on concerns with the lack of progress by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies in meeting the goals of "fishable and swimmable waters" called for in the Clean Water Act.

Midwest Environmental Advocates volunteer and CWN member Judy Treml testified about the contamination of her family's well and...