HOW HEALTHY ARE THE NATIONS WATERS?
In its National Water Quality Inventory: 1998 Report to Congress, EPA concludes that 40 percent of the nation’s assessed waterways remain too polluted for fishing and swimming. Over 290,000 miles of 840,000 miles of assessed rivers and streams do not meet water quality standards. EPA also assessed nearly half of all lakes, reservoirs and ponds, finding nearly half polluted. Of the Great Lakes, 90 percent of their shoreline miles were assessed; of those, 96 percent of the shoreline miles indicated pollution exceeding water quality standards to protect human health. Although threats remain, EPA found that ground water quality generally remains good and can support many different uses. A similar picture of extensive water quality problems emerges from EPA’s Index of Watershed Indicators. Only 16% of watersheds had good water quality, while 36% had moderate water quality problems and 21% had serious problems. Sufficient data were lacking to fully characterize the remaining 27%. In addition
