Portions of three Washington rivers, the Cascade, Green and Napeequa, now have an extra layer of protection, thanks to a special designation from the Washington State Department of Ecology.

The Outstanding Resource Waters designation under the Clean Water Act means the rivers will be protected from future pollution and degradation.

Chris Korbulic, a professional kayaker and nature photographer, became the first kayaker ever to descend the remote Napeequa in 2019, but he had to carry his kayak seven miles over a 6,400-foot pass to get there.

"You get into that valley, and it feels like you have gone way back in time to before industrial and commercial humans were affecting the landscape here so much," Korbulic explained. "It's so beautiful and so distinct in its appearance. It just completely looks like a Glacier Peak Wilderness paradise."

The designation comes after two years of input from the public, tribes, nonprofits, and government agencies, and does not affect private land or state timberlands.

The Cascade River provides drinking water to 56,000 customers and contributes 30% of Puget Sound's fresh water.

Carolyn Moulton, a city council member in Anacortes, said the new protections will help keep the Cascade pristine.

"It's just another step forward in keeping our clean water clean, and it's way less costly to keep something clean than it is to clean it up later," Moulton pointed out. "It's nice to actually be ahead of pollution."

Susan Saul, an advocate for the Green River since the 1970s, said its trail system takes hikers through a remarkable old-growth forest, which somehow withstood the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens unscathed.

"Forests downstream and upstream were blown down in the eruption," Saul recounted. "But you can experience this remnant of an ancient forest that survived the eruption of Mount St. Helens, because of quirks in the landscape that protected it."

The Green River is home to a winter steelhead run. It protects clean water for downstream communities and is also eligible for federal Wild and Scenic River status.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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Both water quantity and quality are important in the dry climate of Nevada. Now, a proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency could roll back protections for the state's water resources.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said he wants to reduce protections granted under the Clean Water Act in an effort to undo "unfair burdens" on farmers and landowners. The 1972 federal law aims to maintain and restore the nation's waters.

Natasha Majewski, climate and energy consultant for the Nevada Wildlife Federation, said the waters covered by the act have changed over the years, but it is all an interconnected system.

"Lincoln County doesn't have the same amount of resources as Clark County, and yet water is still flowing from that county into tributaries such as the Muddy River," Majewski pointed out. "That goes into the Colorado River. That will end up being drinking water."

In 2023, the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of "waters of the United States." It determined only wetlands physically connected to other federally-recognized waters qualify for protection.

Majewski noted while Nevada has its own water laws, federal regulation is needed to maintain a baseline for all states. This week, listening sessions about the proposal will be held for government agencies and Native American tribes.

The Trump administration has said it wants to reduce "red tape" for business and industry but conservationists fear loosening restrictions will cause more pollution in Nevada's wetlands and ephemeral streams. Majewski argued water should not be a partisan issue.

"It is important that all Nevadans, whatever kind of political side they are on, are able to understand these issues more," Majewski stressed. "Because water, it surpasses the administration that it's currently in."

Majewski added changing water protections could affect the quality of the Colorado River and would cause complications due to the amount of agencies managing the river.

"The Colorado River and its different tributaries that come in, it is such a patchwork of people that manage those water sources," Majewski explained.

Montana officials have denied a petition asking the state to designate the Big Hole River as "impaired" by pollution.

Two conservation groups collected data over five years and found levels of nutrients in the Big Hole River exceeded thresholds, in some parts, by twofold or threefold, which could harm aquatic habitats, contaminate drinking water and affect fishing and other tourism business. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality said the petitioners used the wrong metrics.

Guy Alsentzer, executive director of the conservation group Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, said it is an example of politics "undermining good science."

"At minimum, we feel that the state owes us a written explanation, with some detail, about exactly why it believes it can deny a petition that has clearly satisfied the scientific basis for developing a pollution cleanup plan," Alsentzer explained.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality argued the petition's data does not abide by a state law passed in 2021. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, however, officially disapproved of the law.

Alsentzer has requested the EPA weigh in, adding once high nutrient levels are proven, it is up to the Department of Environmental Quality to determine the causes.

"In the case of most Montana rivers, it's going to be a combination of human land use patterns," Alsentzer noted. "Sometimes it's subdivisions, sometimes it's septics, sometimes it's a municipality and sometimes it's farm fields or big cattle feeding lots."

Alsentzer stressed keeping waterways healthy is both "good common sense" and "good economics." According to the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Beaverhead County's hunting and angling economy adds an estimated $74 million to area households annually and $167 million to businesses and organizations.


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A new report found 122 million Americans drink water with high levels of cancer-causing chemicals, frequently from runoff at livestock factory farms.

Researchers at the Environmental Working Group looked at water systems from 2019 to 2023. They found 6,000 water systems at some point had unsafe levels of "trihalomethane," which disinfects water contaminated with manure. The city of Baltimore and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission tested above the Environmental Protection Agency limit for the chemical a combined 255 times.

Anne Schechinger, agricultural economist and Midwest director of the Environmental Working Group, said the pollution affects everyone in the state.

"You can live miles and miles from ag, but still have ag pollutants in your drinking water," Schechinger pointed out. "You might see this report and think, 'Well I live in a city. I'm not anywhere near ag.' That doesn't mean that livestock manure is not impacting your drinking water."

Higher trihalomethane levels in drinking water can cause colon or bladder cancer, heart defects and stillbirths.

Schechinger argued President Donald Trump could reduce pollution by unfreezing funds helping farmers use healthier agricultural practices. Funds are currently frozen as Trump's Department of Government Efficiency tries to cut spending it views as wasteful.

"We can be putting more conservation practices on farm fields, like stream buffers or grass waterways, that really stop the flow of manure into water," Schechinger recommended. "That's something that was intended for this year, but the Trump administration has frozen the majority of agricultural conservation funding."

Schechinger added consumers can protect themselves by getting a water filter. Filters can help take chemical runoff out of drinking water.


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