Clinton orders agencies to protect water resources

President Clinton signed a series of executive orders on May 29 designed to improve the quality of federally managed beaches, rivers and other waterways (Edwin Chen, Los Angeles Times, May 30).

Clinton directed the National Park Service to expand water quality monitoring at federally managed beaches and identify pollution sources at federal shores. The President also instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to draft new sewage treatment standards within a year to prevent spills on beaches. And he called on federal agencies "to adopt a comprehensive strategy to better safeguard" bodies of water on federal lands (Charles Babington, Washington Post, May 30). Of 1,062 coastal beaches reviewed by an EPA survey, 350 reported closures or health advisory warnings in 1998.

Tryg Sletteland, director of the Portland, Ore.-based Pacific Rivers Council, called Clinton's announcement "long overdue" (Sonya Ross, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer/others, May 30). And in a press release, the American Oceans Campaign "applaud[ed] these bold measures to protect beach goers around the country and to make a significant dent in cleaning up the sources of coastal pollution."