Clean Water Action is an American environmental advocacy group. Created in 1972, the group focuses on canvassing and gaining support for political issues and candidates. It is a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...

organization and is based in Washington, D.C.

History

The group was formed in 1972 by David Zwick as a grassroots and lobbying organization whose goal was to enact platforms delineated in the Zwick publication, ''Water Wasteland''. To reach this goal, Zwick outlined a grassroots strategy of door-to-door

canvassing Canvassing, also known as door knocking or phone banking, is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaigns. Canvassing can be done for many reasons: political campaigning, grassroot ...

and public education. One of its first accomplishments occurred in 1986 when, along with the National Campaign Against Toxic Hazards, the group published a report claiming the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

was failing to properly enforce the federal

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

toxic waste cleanup program.

Political advocacy

Clean Water Action has endorsed both causes and political actors. In 2008, Clean Water Action and Earth Justice brought a lawsuit against the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws ...

for not complying with state and federal water protection laws by allowing partially treated

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...

wastewater to be discharged into the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , ), sometimes referred to locally as the Mon (), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in nor ...

. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. In 2012, the group supported the re-election of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Clean Water Action also has been involved in campaigns to reduce the environmental impact of plastics through their support of California's Assembly Bill 888, which proposed to ban the use of plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal care products. Similar federal legislation was enacted with the passing of the Microbead–Free Waters Act of 2015. The group also supported Minneapolis's ordinance restricting the use of single-use plastic bags.

History

Political advocacy

See also

References

Further reading