Ditch The Rule – What & Why
Photo from Ditchtherulefborg
What you are looking at in the picture above could be considered an EPA protected waterway. No, I am not kidding this farmer’s crop ditches do fall under the proposed changes to the EPA ‘s 1972 Clean Water Act. So do your coy ponds, the water reservoirs created on your private property, the ditches along our roadways, and even those ditches you have dug for water run off on your private property around your home garden and or farm. The rule was originally intended to protect our large waterways from private pollution not to commandeer the water usage and rights of private citizens making use of rain water, natural run offs, nor created run offs that do not endanger the public water system. Ditches, ponds and reservoirs are not navigable waterways! See ‘Ditch the Rule’s’ take on how the CWA came into effect and how it grew to the problem it is today, what expansion changes have us concerned and the EPA’s CWA at these links.
It’s Time to Ditch The Rule-How did we get here
EPA in hot WOTUS as people say, “ditch this rule!”
History of the Clean Water Act
You may be wiping your brow and sighing in relief that this doesn’t affect you if you’re not a resident of the USA and not governed by the EPA. But rest assured, eventually you will not be left out no matter what country you live in. As one country’s battles with individual rights vs government rulings, you can bet other world leaders are watching and learning for the battle to come in their own countries.
For information on how the farming community is effected and what their stance is on this expansion of the CWA, the ditch the rule efforts, and the affect it has had on one individual generational family owned farm see the stories below.
Here’s the latest information on Ditch The Rule efforts
For a light hearted but actually very serious visual and musical plea from American farmers to ditch the rule watch That’s Enough by Kacey Clay
