As part of our national position, derived through study and consensus by Leagues across the nation, we believe that natural resources should be managed as interrelated parts of life-supporting ecosystems. Resources should be conserved and protected to assure their future availability. Pollution of these resources should be controlled in order to preserve the physical, chemical and biological integrity of ecosystems and to protect public health.
Further, the LWVUS supports identification and regulation of areas of critical concern, including rare or valuable ecosystems, significant wildlife habitats; unique scenic of historic areas, wetlands “and renewable resource lands, where development could result in the loss of productivity (such as watersheds, aquifers, and aquifer-recharge areas, significant agricultural and grazing lands, forest lands), and policies to ensure safe treatment, transportation, storage and disposable of solid and hazardous wastes in order to protect public health and air, water and land resources.
Regarding water, the League supports:
- water resource programs and policies that reflect the interrelationships of water quality, water quantity, ground-water and surface water and that address the potential depletion or pollution of water supplies;
- measures to reduce water pollution from direct point-source discharges and from indirect non-point sources;
- policies to achieve water quality essential for maintaining species populations and diversity, including measures to protect lakes, estuaries, wetlands and in-stream flows; and
- stringent controls to protect the quality of current and potential drinking-water supplies, including protection of watersheds for surface supplies and of recharge areas for groundwater.
