Trump Wants To Dismantle The Clean Water Rule. Here’s What’s At Stake.

Under the new rule, anyone — developers, landowners, farmers, golf course owners and so on — who wanted to discharge pollutants into these smaller bodies of water, or dredge or dirt-fill them, would need to get a permit. Protecting these features, explained the EPA, was critical to ensuring the health of downstream waters, and the well-being of people, habitats, species and industries that depend on them. “We need clean water upstream to have clean water downstream where we live, work and play,” the agency said on its website.