courant.com | Back To Environmental Basics: Reinvesting In Clean WaterBack To Environmental Basics: Reinvesting In Clean Water
March 25, 2007
By CURTIS P. JOHNSON, and FAITH GAVIN KUHN
Environmentalists and members of the construction industry are often at odds. In the case of clean water, however, the industry and environmentalists are like-minded.
A coalition of statewide and regional organizations, including environmental organizations, construction companies, business organizations, labor groups and municipalities, supports a re-investment in environmental basics: sewage-free rivers and harbors and a healthy, restored Long Island Sound.
The state must get back on track to enjoying healthy and clean waters in our lifetime while creating jobs and boosting economic development. This will require an investment of about $150 million in the Clean Water Fund for 2008.
Many years ago, state leaders committed to some simple and essential clean water goals. The state and municipalities agreed on a plan to stop raw sewage from overflowing into streams, rivers and harbors by 2020.
Connecticut, New York and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to work together to restore the low-oxygen "dead zone" in Long Island Sound by 2014."
