Protecting Pennsylvania's Waterways
Reprinted from the PennPIRG Website

Creating a Legacy of Pollution
Many Pennsylvanians remember when you could take summer vacations or escape the stresses of every day life by catching fish out of the local fishing hole or swimming in crystal clear streams without worrying about the consequences.

But times have changed. Few waterways in the state remain safe for fishing or swimming, and now many Pennsylvanians are concerned about the health of the watersheds that supply their drinking water - and with good reason. In recent years, the deterioration of Pennsylvania's waterways has been dramatic.

• Currently, Pennsylvania's waterways received the highest levels of water pollution in the nation, compared to ranking 21st only five years ago.
• Polluters reported dumping over 49 million pounds of pollution into the state's waterways in 1999 alone.
• The nation's largest water polluter is located in Pennsylvania, releasing tens of millions of pounds of pollution into a local waterway each year. 

Polluters Are Getting Greedy
Pennsylvanians need cleaner waters instead of higher levels of pollution. Unfortunately, polluters are putting profits ahead of our public health and environment by attempting to weaken the laws that protect Pennsylvania's remaining pristine waterways. Polluters are focusing their energies on gutting the state's "Special Protection Waters Program" which guards Pennsylvania's highest quality streams. If polluters have their way, we would be unable to give the state's remaining pristine waterways the levels of protection that protect our health and environment. The polluters proposal includes:

• Neglecting ecological and public health measures when deciding if a waterway should receive protection.
• Requiring that any stream wait a year before receiving the necessary protections. In the meantime, if the waterway was degraded in quality, it would no longer qualify for these critical protections.
• Allowing any corporation or special interest that owns mineral or development rights near the waterway to single-handedly stop the protection of the nearby waterway.  

Case Study: Big Spring Creek
Big Spring Creek, located in Cumberland County, is an unfortunate example of what can happen to our most pristine streams if we don’t give them the proper protections.

By the 1950's, Big Spring Creek was the last limestone stream found in Pennsylvania to hold a population made up almost entirely of brook trout - the only native trout species in the state. This made Big Stream Creek world renowned for it's trout fishing, and the richness of this stream's ecosystem was unmatched - a study done in the mid 1960's found that over 1,600 trout inhabited each acre of the stream.

But this was all to change. In the early 1970's, the state allowed a fish hatchery to open up on Big Spring Creek. This facility diverted 8,000 gallons of water a minute from Big Spring Creek - two-thirds of the total water flow. On top of this, the pollution levels created by the hatchery were incredible, and the effects were immediate. Water samples showed that nitrite and phosphate levels had risen by 200%. Phosphorous levels were up 550%, and suspended solid waste levels were up by 450%. Within five years, the fish population per acre went from 1600 to 30, and within ten years Big Spring Creek was so polluted and degraded that no species of trout were able to survive. In 1998, Big Spring Creek had to be added to the state's list of impaired waterways - the category for the state's most endangered bodies of water.

Big Spring Creek serves as a warning of what may happen to Pennsylvania's remaining pristine waterways if polluters have their way.

• Rollback or weaken Pennsylvania’s clean water laws, particularly those that affect our most pristine waterways
• Relax enforcement against polluters who excessively pollute the state’s waterways, or violate clean water standards.

(Permission to reprint the above article was granted by PennPIRG)