EPA seeks to scrap rule protecting drinking water for third of Americans

Environmental Protection Agency and army propose ending clean water rule to hold 'substantive re-evaluation' of which bodies of water should be protected

The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to dismantle the federal clean water rule, which protects waterways that provide drinking water for about a third of the US population.

The EPA, with the US army, has proposed scrapping the rule in order to conduct a "substantive re-evaluation" of which rivers, streams, wetlands and other bodies of water should be protected by the federal government.