Beer, fish and lamprey. These are a few of my favorite things and they all depend on clean, unpolluted water.

Luckily I am able to enjoy all three living in Harrison on the Crooked River, a class AA stream and the main tributary for Sebago Lake. As a fisherman, the owner of the Acme Lamprey Company and the owner of Penneseewassee Brewing Company, clean cold water is as critical to me as the lamprey I catch and sell to research institutions and the beer I brew and market.

That’s why I am thrilled with the newly finalized Clean Water Act protections from the Environmental Protection Agency. Taken together, the finalized Clean Water Act rules will restore protections to more than half of our nation’s streams and millions of acres of wetlands.

The new rules clarify protections for our nation’s headwater streams and adjacent wetlands which wildlife depend on. But it’s not just good news for wildlife. The small streams that will now be protected by the rule provide drinking water for 117 million Americans.

Beer has four main ingredients: hops, malt, yeast and clean water. Without clean, unpolluted water, my product would suffer and my brewery would not be able to operate.

The slogan for my beer company is “Brewed on the Banks of the Crooked River.” The very label itself features the Crooked River and an angler fly-fishing.

As a class AA river, the Crooked is one of the cleanest rivers in the state of Maine and the major spawning habitat for landlocked salmon in the Sebago Lake watershed. That benefits my brewery, my neighbors, and everyone who recreates on the river and the lake it feeds.

The Clean Water Act, championed by Maine’s own Sen. Edmund Muskie in the 1970s, has served to protect our nation’s waterways from pollution for more than 40 years. But for more than a decade, most of our nation’s streams and many of our wetlands have been stuck in a legal limbo caused by two divided Supreme Court decisions, actions of previous administrations and inaction by Congress.

The legal confusion has had real consequences for our clean water resources.

For example, the rate of wetlands loss increased by 140 percent immediately in the wake of the Supreme Court rulings. This resulted in destruction of critical waterfowl habitat and decreased hunting opportunities.

Furthermore, the legal confusion allowed polluters to dump dangerous chemicals into many seasonal lakes, streams and other waterways without fear of federal enforcement.

In addition to my professional affiliations, I am proud to serve as the founder and current president of the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited, serving the northern Cumberland and Oxford counties area.

Upon the rollout of the finalized Clean Water Act protections, Steve Moyer, Trout Unlimited vice president for government affairs, said, “We intimately know the importance of headwater streams for providing habitat for spawning and young fish, as well as preserving water for larger downstream rivers. That’s why Trout Unlimited and our 150,000 members strongly support the proposed rule to restore protections to these headwater streams.”

According to a recent Trout Unlimited report, nearly 60 percent of all stream miles in the U.S. are considered small, intermittent or headwater. Protecting these seasonal waterways from pollution is critical to maintaining clean water for drinking and recreation, as well as safe and healthy fish and wildlife habitats.

Headwater streams provide important spawning and rearing habitat for fish and are incredibly important to water quality in downstream lakes, rivers and bays that also provide important fish and wildlife habitat. There is a direct connection between clean water and the U.S. hunting- and fishing-based economy, which generates $200 billion in annual economic activity and supports 1.5 million jobs.

For all of these reasons, I encourage Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King to support the newly finalized Clean Water Act protections and not to support attempts in Congress to delay or weaken them.

Lee Margolin owns and operates Acme Lamprey and Pennesseewassee Brewing in Harrison.

PULLOUT:

As a class AA river, the Crooked is one of the cleanest rivers in the state of Maine and the major spawning habitat for landlocked salmon in the Sebago Lake watershed. That benefits my brewery, my neighbors, and everyone who recreates on the river and the lake it feeds.