Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met environmental groups and activists at Fremont Brewery on June 1 to toast changes to the Clean Water Act.

The Obama Administration released the Clean Water Rule last May, and Regional official of the EPA, Dennis McLerran, met with Sara Nelson, co-owner of Fremont Brewery, Larry Phillips, King County Council Chair, and Bruce Speight, an official of WashPIRG, to discussed what the new rule means for businesses like Fremont brewery who rely on clean water.

“The Clean Water Rule restores federal Clean Water Act protections to streams and wetlands that have been vulnerable to development and pollution for nearly 10 years,” said Speight. “It is so important that we do everything we can to make sure we protect those natural resources we have in the Puget Sound area and Washington, but these water ways depend on the streams that feed them and the wetlands that keep them clean. What happens upstream doesn’t stay upstream.”

So what does the new rule mean for Washington?

According to the EPA, 54 percent of the tributaries that feed into Puget Sound and provide drinking water for Washingtonians will now have federal protections under the Clean Water Rule.

“It’s really important that we think about water. …Washington is such a great place for beer because of the water of course and everybody knows beer is 90 percent water, and you cannot make delicious beer without delicious clean water that you can depend on to be clean from season to season,” Nelson.

Nelson pointed out that craft brewing has grown by 20 percent in Washington State since last year and has been become an economic “power house” for the state.

“Businesses know that clean water is vital and beer has become a major economic development engine. It brings communities together and has lots of downstream benefits, so it’s not just what’s good for in your glass, it’s good for communities.”

The Clean Water Rule protects waters that have historically been covered by the Clean Water Act, which is about 60 percent of the waters in the U.S. These waters include navigable water, interstate waters, territorial seas and impoundments. However, the new rule goes further and defines tributaries.

Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 and protected “all waters” across the nation, but Supreme Court decisions from 2001 and 2006 made it unclear which waters -- especially tributaries and adjacent water ways -- were protected.

“Our clean water rule needs to fix that. Those protected waters are not just crucial to healthy lives, they are critical to healthy economies...our agriculture, and as we face more and more water challenges -- not the least of which is increased water stress from the changing climate -- protecting our sources of water up stream is crucial,” said McLerran.

“If the Clean Water Act is America’s shield against water pollution the EPA is the organization that has the responsibility to hold up that shield. … We all live downstream from something.”

McLerran noted that sources of water one in three Americans rely on for drinking water do not have clear protections under the old rule. According to the EPA, about 117 million Americans get drinking water from streams that were vulnerable to pollution before the Clean Water Rule.

The Clean Water Act prevents polluters from dumping directly into navigable rivers and streams, but polluters found loopholes in the regulation and found other waters to dump. Under the old rule a polluter can legally dump toxic waste into a ditch that eventually flows into protected waters like a stream.

The EPA states that the Clean Water Rule aims to clarify for businesses and industry which waters are protected by determining which bodies of water have the greatest impact on water quality downstream. These clarifications should mitigate any legal entanglements by laying clear guidelines for which waters are protected.

“Policy and how its implemented makes all the difference in the world… so when you make sure you have rules in place that actually can be implemented in a way which would not invite lawsuits…it makes a huge difference,” said Phillips.

The crux of the rule is flowing water. The rule states that in order to be protected, tributaries must have features that show it has flowing water. Physical features of flowing water include having a bed, a bank and ordinary high water mark. Adjacent waters within a minimum of 100 feet and within the 100-year floodplain to a maximum of 1,500 feet are protected. Ditches away from streams or that only flow when it rains are not protected.

“The rule provides protections for headwaters that have these features and science shows can have a significant connection to downstream waters,” McLerran

The rule does clarify protections and sets guides for how to determine if a body of water warrants protection, but it does not restore the “all waters” protections seen before 2001, and leaves bodies of water and wetlands outside floodplains unprotected. Environmental activists say the new rule does not go far enough and concede that all bodies of water are interconnected -- even ditches -- and that it’s crucial to restore protections seen before 2001.

On the other side, industry and farming constituents say that the new rules will stifle operations with more regulations.

“This is something our critics have been throwing out there. It really just doesn’t do that,” McLerran

The EPA states that the rule basically is the same as the old in that it does not interfere with private property and land use. The new rule also does not regulate ditches, tile drains groundwater and shallow subsurface flows. Much like the old rule, it does not change policy on irrigation or water transfers. In addition, the EPA states that the Clean Water Rule provides greater clarity and certainty to farmers without adding more regulation.

As far as when the new rule will be implement, McLerran said that changes are already in the works, though congress is currently debating on budget restrictions and riders to be put in place.

Last Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee voted 11-9 to pass a bill that would repeal the Clean Water Rule. The vote was a split between parties with only Republicans supporting the bill.