The Clean Water Act and other environmental laws allow residents to improve their local rivers and streams through "citizen suits." But let’s face it: most people don’t have time to take polluters to court. That’s why Potomac Riverkeeper does it for you.

Illegal pollution is rampant, and the Clean Water Act is so poorly enforced that many industrial polluters don't even bother to hide violations that are thousands of times above the legal limits!

Potomac Riverkeeper and its attorneys routinely monitor known polluters. When we find that a facility is violating its pollution permit, we consider a few factors before taking action including the impact of the violations on public health, and the size and scope of the violations,

After our review, we contact the worst polluters to tell them to stop polluting our water supply and to clean up existing pollution. If they do not, we begin legal actions by filing a mandatory 60-day "letter of intent" to sue under the Clean Water Act. As a last resort, we will take a polluter to court to stop the pollution.

Ed Merrifield, Potomac Riverkeeper, describes our mission for a healthy watershed.