In a shocking move, the Supreme Court has overturned the end-result clause of the Clean Water Act. In simple wording, the end-result clause required that water facilities needed to uphold a certain water quality for the water to be released for consumption—in other words, the end-clause protected tap water from contamination (such as feces, sewage, bacteria, and small organisms). Luckily, the Supreme Court did not fully overturn the Clean Water Act, and instead have required that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instead specify the steps water facilities must take to purify the liquid. So, in the long run, this decision could benefit the purity and safety of tap water in the United States. Still, until the EPA updates their water purity requirements, us Americans will need to pay extra attention to the color of our tap water.
