Making Our Voices Heard for Clean Water

by Adrienne Kotula, JRA's Policy Specialist

From left to right: Adrienne Kotula, JRA Policy Specialist; Jacob Powell, Virginia Conservation Network; Chip Rice, Friends of the Rappahannock; Peter Marx, Choose Clean Water Coalition; Pamela Goddard, National Parks Conservation Association; Kelly Simpson, Legislative Director & Counsel for Congressmen Hurt; Robbi Savage, Rivanna Conservation Society (Photo Credit: Robbi Savage, Rivanna Conservation Society)

Two weeks ago, I headed north - out of the James River watershed, through the Rappahannock River watershed and into the Potomac River watershed.

Why would I want to leave the ever-impressive James River watershed, you ask?  For some very important visits to Congress, of course.

With the help of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, fellow Coalition members and I visited five Virginia congressional offices to help protect funding for the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. This funding is critical to helping farmers and landowners throughout the six-state Chesapeake watershed play a key role in ensuring the health of local waters and the Bay. This funding benefits the over 17 million citizens of our region by providing cleaner water and healthier, more productive farms.

At a time when localities are just beginning to fully grasp the restoration that needs to take place and we have achieved half of the pollution reductions necessary to restoring the Bay, it is critical for federal funding to stay in place. As EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently told CNN, “Now is not the time to quit. We are so close to actually turning the corner, but it’s going to require all of us…to keep contributing our share.” Everyone will have to do more and critical federal funding will be needed if we are going to restore the James and the Chesapeake Bay by 2025. JRA remains committed to working with our elected representatives to ensure that all levels of government do their fair share to reduce pollution and restore our national treasures.

To contact your Congressmen and tell them how important clean water funding is to you, click here.