Protection of fresh water needs prompt clarification and strengthening in the United States. Supreme Court rulings and ambiguous advice from the Environmental Protection Agency have created jurisidictional confusion and left some wetlands that should be protected open to pollution injurious to wildlife and thus ultimately to people.

Some of the problems stem from interpretation of what constitutes “navigable” waters. This might come as a surprise to those who know about the Clean Water Act, enacted in 1972, during the remarkably environmentalist Nixon administration, but virtually all laws need to be updated in light of changing times and court rulings.

The best approach to taking the broad ecological impact of water pollution seriously is to enact the Clean Water Restoration Act, which clarifies definitions and makes regulatory mandates clear in dealing with the many challenges posed by industrial and residential pollution. Fresh water is a surprisingly rare resource in the world. We must do all that we can to protect it.

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Speaking of water, we were intrigued by the controversy in the news involving the copious dumping of raw sewage from yachts and ferries in Nantucket Sound — a body of water that foes of the big wind farm proposed for the sound have called “pristine.” Not quite.