A creek behind my house has filled up with sediment from a recent road project -- how can I convince my local government to clean it up?

Peter answers: First you need to find out if the local government was responsible for the road project -- many projects are undertaken by the state and follow state guidelines. In such a case, the local government would not be responsible. If the local government was responsible for the road project, you can take upstream and downstream samples or pictures to demonstrate clearly that the sediment came from the road project. I've done this in cases where it made a very convincing case.

Once you have proof that the local government did the project and the project caused the pollution, you then tell them that the discharge of pollution, including sediment, from a construction project is (generally) illegal unless they had a state permit. It is unlikely they had a state permit because if they followed a good state permit, there would not have been such damage. Thus they are responsible for the clean up. Note that if the town were sued for discharging pollutants without a permit, it would also be liable for penalties under the Clean Water Act.

I'm doing research -- do you know of a comprehensive guide to wetland dependent wildlife species?

What does non-point mean?

Peter answers: Good question. The Clean Water Act has been very successful at cleaning up sources of pollution when there is a clear "point" from which the pollution flows -- meaning factories and sewage treatment plants, primarily. But when water flows over a large area and picks up contaminants, that's known as non-point source pollution. An example would be a farm, where rainwater picks up pesticides and fertilizers and carries them into local rivers and streams, or seeps into groundwater. This kind of non-point source pollution, otherwise called runoff, whether from farms, livestock operations, logging and mining sites or cities, is the number one cause of water pollution in this country.

After recent heavy rains, I've noticed garbage floating off the beach near my home -- why?

Peter answers: When it rains (or when snow melts, although most of us haven't had much of that this year), pollutants such as oil and grease, dog waste and garbage from the streets are washed into stormdrains. And in virtually all cities, those stormdrains empty into local waterways. In older cities the situation can be even worse, because the sanitary sewers and the storm sewers are combined, which means that when heavy rains overwhelm the sewers' capacity, untreated sewage spills into the water. Although it has been illegal to construct new combined sewers since 1972, many remain (for example 60-70% of New York City's sewers are combined).

Can you tell me anything about the clean water initiative the President mentioned in the State of the Union speech?