Tomorrow, March 22, is World Water Day, an international celebration of water. As we reflect on the importance of water for our lives, we must confront this precarious moment for clean water. The most basic protections are under attack from the Musk-Trump regime. 

More than 50 years ago, people from across the country came together in a national environmental movement that secured key protections to protect our water. The movement prompted the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 and passage of our nation’s bedrock water protection laws. 

Before this, things had gotten so bad that rivers thick with toxic pollution spontaneously caught fire. And though we still have work to do to ensure clean water for all, these measures brought incredible improvements.

Now, as Elon Musk and Donald Trump work to eliminate, dismantle, and weaken these hard-fought, often-decades-old protections, will our rivers burn again? These are the top five ways they’re endangering our water.

1. Unconstitutionally canceling clean water projects 

Among Trump’s first actions in office was an unconstitutional freeze on all funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). This stopped the release of an estimated $10 billion in funding for local water projects. The freeze was then expanded to cover all federal loans and grants. 

Federal judges have indefinitely halted it, but there were reports that the freeze impacted clean water funding at least from the January 20 order through February 5. 

Under the Constitution, Congress controls the purse and directs spending, so these early actions are clearly illegal. Unfortunately, now, Congressional Republicans are working to turn the cuts into law. They’ve greeted any dissent among their own ranks with threats of primary challenges backed by Musk and Trump.  

Already, Congressional Republicans have passed a spending bill that cuts rural water funding levels by 20%, eliminates Congressionally directed spending for community projects, and greenlights the Musk-Trump dismantling of our government.  

Next on their agenda: a budget bill that would give $4.5 trillion in tax breaks, largely for billionaires and corporations, paid for by cuts to essential services.

The budget blueprint threatens to cancel SNAP food assistance for millions of low-income households and free school lunches for children in low-income communities. It could also remove the tax exemption on municipal bonds, hamstringing local governments’ ability to finance water projects. 

These low-cost tax-exempt bonds and revenue are key for the 90% of water and wastewater projects financed by local governments. Eliminating the tax benefit would dramatically increase costs, leading to higher water prices or less safe water.

2. Illegally eliminating core functions of the EPA 

Musk and Trump want to cut the EPA by 65%. This would have a devastating impact on critical clean water and environmental programs. Communities rely on these programs to fix broken drinking water systems, stop sewage spills, and clean up contamination. 

A huge 65% cut would decimate funding that is channeled directly to states. In 2024, the EPA budget totaled approximately $10 billion. Nearly 60% was dedicated to the Superfund trust funds (for the cleanup of toxic contamination sites) and grants to states and indigenous communities, including for local water infrastructure. 

Already, Musk and Trump have canceled hundreds of grants for unspecified EPA programs. They’ve also fired about 400 probationary workers at the agency. Many were hired to help process Congressionally directed funding for community clean water projects. 

While these workers were reinstated after a judge ruled that the mass firings were illegal, they were not brought back to work but instead put on administrative leave. As federal actions backlog, projects will be delayed and costs will increase for local communities. 

Under Musk and Trump, the EPA is also moving to fire more than a thousand toxicologists, chemists, and other scientists and eliminate the EPA’s entire research and development arm, gutting its research into environmental harms. This is the cornerstone of the EPA’s ability to produce science-based protections, such as eliminating toxic lead and PFAS from drinking water. 

Because of a Trump executive order, the EPA has also fired all staff working on environmental justice and is working to close all environmental justice offices across the country. Musk and Trump are eliminating critical functions of our country’s environmental and water protection agency. 

3. Allowing lead poisoning in our water

Millions of people across the country are being slowly poisoned by lead due to old and outdated lead service lines. The EPA adopted an historic Lead Out of Water Rule (officially called the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements) that requires the replacement of all these lines in most communities over the next decade.

In February, a House Republican introduced H.J. Res. 44 to repeal this Lead Out of Water Rule using the Congressional Review Act. If Congress passes this measure, it could prevent the EPA from ever mandating full lead service line replacement again. This would cause permanent harm for millions. That’s because the Congressional Review Act prohibits an agency from ever proposing a rule substantially the same as one that was repealed using it. 

The Lead Out of Water Rule also faces another threat. The water industry is suing the EPA to stop the rule’s lead pipe replacement mandate. Trump’s EPA has asked the Court to pause the case for 60 days, indicating it may not defend the rule. The Trump administration could decide to let the toxic pipes stay, continuing to leach poison into drinking water. 

4. Cancelling protections against PFAS in our water  

The Musk-Trump regime has already pulled the plug on one critical protection that would help prevent PFAS “forever chemical” contamination of our water. In response to a regulatory freeze that Trump issued on his first day in office, the EPA withdrew a proposal to limit the amount of PFAS in the wastewater of PFAS manufacturers. The regulation would have been a critical tool to restrict the release of PFAS in this wastewater to protect our water supplies.

PFAS are a class of toxic, long-lasting chemicals that harm many parts of the human body. By failing to stop corporate pollution of our waters, the Trump administration is forcing communities to pick up the tab and pay to remove PFAS from their water. 

Other protections from PFAS could be next. Last year, the Biden administration took some major steps to finally start reining in our nation’s PFAS crisis. It finalized the first national regulations to remove six types of PFAS from our drinking water, and it designated two types of PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, giving the EPA more tools to hold polluters accountable for clean up. 

These protections are now under attack from industry lawsuits. Trump’s EPA has asked the courts to pause the cases for 60 days. In April, we may learn if the EPA will seek to defend them. If not, we will lose critical protections. Notably, Project 2025 called out the PFAS polluter-pay protections specifically to be revisited.  

5. Eviscerating protections that keep water safe from corporate pollution

The most affordable and effective way to keep our water safe for drinking is to prevent water pollution in the first place. Our nation’s water protection rules face far- and wide-ranging threats from Musk and Trump. 

They have ramped up an unprecedented deregulation agenda. Trump issued an executive order requiring that for every new regulation issued, ten existing rules must be repealed. Another order directs federal agencies to work with Musk to identify protections to be repealed. 

Last week, the Trump EPA announced what it called “the Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History.” A litany of protections were flagged for repeal, including ones designed to protect water supplies from fossil fuel wastewater. Moreover, the EPA officially terminated the Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arms of the agency. 

The goal is to give corporations free rein to pollute our environment — all so they can make more money for their billionaire owners. 

Join Food & Water Watch in The Fight to Save Clean Water!

The Musk-Trump agenda for our water is dangerous. They are stripping away basic protections, allowing corporations to pollute our water, canceling critical federal support for clean water projects, and ultimately forcing families to pay higher bills for less safe water. This is an attack on clean water. It’s an attack on our right to water — all in the name of more profit for billionaires. 

We know what it takes to stop this dismantling of our essential services. We have a plan and we are building a strong network across the country to hold our elected officials accountable to counter the Musk-Trump agenda. 

This World Water Day, join us in the fight to save our clean water.