EPA Wants to Drop Water Transfer Permits

September 3, 2006 By: Marshall Cutchin

A host of problems may accompany the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to permit water transfers without oversight: loss of habitat, pollution, the spread of invasive species. But the agency seems determined to aid agricultural and power and water supply interests at the expense of the environment. “The EPA has proposed a rule that would allow states to transfer water from one stream, lake, reservoir or other water bodies to another, without first getting a permit. Getting a permit first requires proving the transfer would do no harm to human health or the environment, or coming up with strategies to limit that harm.” Eriin Kelly and Dan Shapley in the Poughkeepsie, New York Journal.