President Trump's directive to the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to kill the Clean Water Rule was heavily criticized by conservationists, though proponents applauded the move to "recognize states’ rightful primacy in water management..."

At the National Parks Conservation Association, officials worried that the request to do away with the Waters of the United States rule, as it formally is known, would be detrimental to the National Park System.

"There is no need to revisit, revise, or rollback this safeguard that only serves to ensure clean water for our kids, communities, wildlife, and parks," wrote Chad Lord, NPCA's senior director for water policy, in a blog on the park advocacy group's website. "If your clean drinking water or your last paddling trip weren’t enough to remind you why laws like the Clean Water Act exist, it was less than 50 years ago that Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, which runs through Cuyahoga Valley National Park, caught fire. At the time, limited protections for our waterways led to toxic industrial waste and oil-soaked debris filling the same rivers and lakes that supply our drinking water and flow through our national parks."

The termination of the rule won't happen overnight. First the EPA and Corps of Army Engineers will have to "undergo an extensive public process of developing a proposal, gathering public comment and engaging stakeholders," said Mr. Lord.

But U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a prepared statement that the rule was unnecessary and an overreach of federal authority.

“This rule was the epitome of punitive regulation. Beginning its reversal is a welcome reprieve for states, farmers, ranchers, and urban and rural communities across the country from the punishing overreach of the EPA," he said. "President Trump and EPA Administrator Pruitt’s commitment to restore federalism in our country’s approach to environmental stewardship is a much needed shift. With this order, no longer will states’ rightful primacy in water management be undermined by executive fiat and oppressive federal bullying.”

Opposition to the president's action came from a variety of conservation groups:

The Izaak Walton League of America

"The Izaak Walton League of America believes the Clean Water Rule is fundamentally sound and that further delay in restoring protections for streams and wetlands risks long-term damage to water quality, habitat for fish and wildlife, and our economy.

"Unfortunately, by issuing an Executive Order to rescind or revise the Clean Water Rule, the Trump Administration has set a different course. This effort is even more troubling because the president directs the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to consider defining waters protected by the Clean Water Act based on an extreme minority opinion from the Supreme Court. That opinion, authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, rejected the intent of Congress in passing the Clean Water Act and is unsupported by the overwhelming science on the interconnected nature of waters.

"Under this opinion, the Clean Water Act would not protect small streams, such as headwaters, unless they flow continuously. Moreover, it would also deny protection for many wetlands – including prairie potholes critical to migratory waterfowl and other wildlife – that lack a continuous surface connection to larger waters."

A consortium of hunting and angling groups, including the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, American Fly Fishing Trade Association, and the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

"The Trump Administration is undermining the Clean Water Act. American sportsmen and sportswomen call on the Administration to protect headwater streams and valuable wetlands, keystones of America’s clean water and hunting and fishing heritage

"Does America need cleaner waterways? Or do we want to forsake decades of progress and allow degradation of our streams, rivers and wetlands? Those are the vital questions for the new Trump Administration and the 115th Congress.

"American sportsmen and women want to move forward, not backward.

"Yet, today, President Trump signed an executive order to start rolling back the Clean Water Rule, a new definition issued in 2015 to clarify what are 'waters of the United States.' The legally sound and scientifically supported definition would ensure protection for headwater streams and wetlands.

"... President Trump’s reliance on Justice Scalia’s opinion is especially misguided and must be reversed. The Trump Administration must consider the benefits of the 2015 Clean Water Rule and make sure that any revised rule does the following:

• Restores longstanding protections for millions of wetlands and headwater streams that contribute to the drinking water of one in three Americans, protects communities from flooding, and provides essential fish and wildlife habitat that supports a robust outdoor recreation economy.

• Sustains the sport fishing industry, which accounts for 828,000 jobs, nearly $50 billion annually in retail sales, and an economic impact of about $115 billion every year that relies on access to clean water.

• Sustains duck hunting in the U.S., including 1.5 million duck hunters whose expenditures invest more than $3 billion into our economy.

• Fulfills the aspirations of 83 percent of American sportsmen and women, from across the political spectrum, who believe the Clean Water Act should apply to smaller streams and wetlands, as the 2015 rule directed.

"The new Administration must listen to the voices of American sportsmen who want more clean water, more fish and wildlife habitat, and new progress building on the successes of the past."

Natural Resources Defense Council

“Instead of protecting the things we hold dear like our tap water, our rivers or our health, President Trump is, once again, protecting big polluters," said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Gutting this rule would threaten the wetlands and streams that feed the drinking water sources for 1 in 3 people—or 117 million Americans. It would put our rivers, lakes, marshes and bays at risk of pollution.

“The Clean Water Rule’s safeguards are grounded in science and law. The rule was developed over many years, after more than 1 million public comments. We all rely on healthy wetlands to curb flooding, filter pollutants, support fish, waterfowl and wildlife, and feed our rivers and lakes.

“We will stand up to this reckless assault. We’ll stand up for clean water and a healthy future for all Americans.”