Americans are getting antsy about the possibility of poop in the drinking water thanks to a new interpretation of the Clean Water Act.
Why are Americans suddenly worried about sewage in their drinking water?
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that many are concerned will hamper the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce clean water standards across the U.S.
The case came about after San Francisco was directed to stop dumping so much untreated sewage into the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The city responded by taking the issue up with the courts and claiming that the EPA was overstepping the bounds of the Clean Water Act.
Their argument was that all the EPA is allowed to do is set specific guidelines around how much wastewater an entity can dump into bodies of water. They felt that the 100-page permit issued to the city included generic standards that could hold them responsible for the final quality of the water after waste had been dumped into it.
Those in favor of the EPA’s previous stance pointed out that the purpose is, in fact, to protect the final quality of the water. In a 5-4 ruling, SCOTUS voted to place stronger restrictions on how the EPA can enforce clean water standards, with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. focusing on the “crushing penalties” businesses and other permittees could face otherwise.
“The decision is going to make the job of EPA and other permitting agencies much harder, because the type of limits the court says have to be used are much harder to identify and calculate,” said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Becky Hammer.
And the fact that it’s coming at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration is gutting federal agencies isn’t helping assuage concerns. The president himself recently said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin plans to cut “65 or so percent of the people” from the EPA. The White House later claimed what he meant was that “65% of the EPA’s wasteful spending” would be eliminated.
Americans are not thrilled
The American people have not thanked us even once for putting more sewage in their water https://t.co/MdIPrITlaJ pic.twitter.com/GxjY3YPLlb
— Nick is (@ikisnick) March 4, 2025
Oftentimes, environmental standards that directly impact the health of Americans also limit the extent to which businesses and their shareholders can profit. Because of this, there have long been fears that this administration, along with those appointed throughout the government and courts by Trump, would work towards rolling back these protections.
It seems those fears were not unfounded. Although MAGA loyalists have expressed support for SCOTUS placing limits on the EPA, many others are wondering how in the world we got to this point—and coping with dark humor and memes, as per usual in these times.
City and County of San Francisco v. EPA (2025) pic.twitter.com/OhD4ga9eVw
— Simplified SCOTUS (@SimpleSCOTUS) March 4, 2025
When ‘return to tradition’ means rivers catching fire https://t.co/yhU2pk9uF3 pic.twitter.com/wV1oetaQ1W
— Read Starting Somewhere (@JPHilllllll) March 4, 2025
https://t.co/tZdUd0CMht pic.twitter.com/YiV4wVcy0t
— tractor (@nudeobama) March 4, 2025
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