Letters to the Editor: New Trump rollbacks pose a big threat to Bay Area waters

The Trump administration’s proposal to strip waterways around the country of Clean Water Act protections would be devastating to the Bay Area, putting more than 40 percent of our local streams at risk. Half of California’s surface water falls as rain or snow, forming streams, creeks, and marshes that flow with the seasons. These “ephemeral” and intermittent waters would lose federal Clean Water Act protections if the Trump administration gets their way under a proposed revision of the Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS), which defines which of the nation’s waterways the Clean Water Act protects.