; (6) intense flooding occurring in places, like Houston, Texas, where wetland destruction is believed to have contributed to the severity of the flooding; and (7) many areas of the United States are expected to experience worsened drought conditions with climate change, making preservation of water resources more critical; Whereas the Clean Water Act dramatically slowed the rate of wetlands loss in the United States, from more than half a million acres annually in the 1950s to approximately 80,000 acres annually in the late 1990s; Whereas the quality of numerous water bodies has substantially improved since the adoption of the Clean Water Act, including the Charles River in Massachusetts, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Great Lakes; Whereas despite the improvements brought about by the Clean Water Act, the United States still faces major water resource and pollution challenges, including— (1) according to the most recent State data submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency— (A) 53 percent of assessed rivers and streams do not meet one or more water quality standards, which are established to ensure waters are clean enough for specific uses like fishing and swimming; (B) 71 percent of assessed lakes, reservoirs, and ponds are impaired; (C) 80 percent of assessed bays and estuaries are impaired; and (D) 72 percent of assessed coastal shoreline waters are impaired; and (2) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the increasing frequency of harmful algal blooms is associated with increasing temperatures and levels of nutrients in United States waters; Whereas the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 Infrastructure Report Card gave the Nation’s wastewater infrastructure a grade of D+; Whereas the most recent Clean Watersheds Needs Survey report to Congress identified at least $271,000,000,000 in capital needs for wastewater, stormwater, and other clean water infrastructure