Clean water is something we all want and need. The Clean Water Network provides the following information and they can be contacted at:
Clean
Water Network
1200 New
York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-289-2395
Fax: 202-289-1060
E-mail: cleanwaternt@igc.org
The Clean
Water Act at 30: Time to Keep the Promise
Three decades ago, the problem was very clear -- water pollution was visible to everyone in the country. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio burst into flames. Historic Boston Harbor was a cesspool, and so was the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. and other rivers, lakes and coastal beaches across the United States. Lake Erie was declared dead, and a 1969 oil spill off scenic Santa Barbara, California, contributed to the public outrage. All of these events created a groundswell of support from the public demanding immediate reforms to end water pollution.
Congress responded in 1972 with passage of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Clean Water Act announced a national mission: to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters." The new law set important goals: zero discharge of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985, and fishable and swimmable waters by 1983.
Virtually every city in the U.S. was required to build and operate a wastewater treatment plant to end discharges of raw sewage into waters. The newly formed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administered federal funding and offered technical assistance. States adopted water quality standards with federal oversight to ensure that communities everywhere could expect clean water. The law set up a permitting system to limit industrial and municipal discharges into waterways, and to protect wetlands from destruction.
The Clean Water Act’s Successes
Tens of billions
of dollars have been spent building municipal wastewater treatment plants. Due
in large part to the federal investments under the CWA, the number of Americans
served by secondary or better wastewater treatment plants increased
substantially: from 140.1 million people in 1968 to 189.7 million people in
1996.
Toxic flows were
reduced. More than one billion pounds per year of toxic pollutants have been
removed from our nation's waters. Fish kills declined and many rivers and lakes
have begun to revive.
In
1987, Congress passed the Water Quality Act strengthening the CWA by tightening
regulation of toxic chemical discharges from industry, and water pollution from
diffuse sources such as agricultural runoff and urban runoff from city streets.
These amendments to the law have helped to reduce pollution in many
lakes, rivers, wetlands and coastal areas.
The Need for a Stronger Clean Water Act
Despite
these successes, the original goals of the Clean Water Act have yet to be met.
The EPA reports that 40 percent of our nation's waters are still not fishable
and swimmable. The major problem is that many portions of the law have not been
adequately enforced. In addition,
some portions of the law need to be strengthened.
Why
Do We Need a Federal Law?
Since 1972, the CWA has always relied on a partnership between the federal
government and the states. While these days some policy-makers
argue for “government devolution” to give more regulatory power to
the states, it is important to know that it
is a national responsibility to ensure communities everywhere
have clean water, especially where state agencies are reluctant to limit
pollution from local industries and sewage systems.
In addition, water pollution doesn't respect state boundaries, so a
federal role in these cases is even more important. For example, the Mississippi
River basin collects water from 32 states, so controlling pollution only in one
state, like Louisiana, will not solve the problem. It was these concerns about
the effectiveness of state water pollution control programs and the complexities
of dealing with trans-boundary pollution controls that led to passage of the
1972 Clean Water Act in the first place Today we still need the federal
government to take a leadership role to work with all states to protect our
water resources and make sure that communities everywhere benefit from clean
water.
Controlling
Runoff Pollution.
Many provisions of the Clean Water Act are meant to limit water pollution from
specific point sources, like factories, sewage plants, or other industrial
activities. Today, the major source of water pollution is due to polluted runoff
into waters. Polluted runoff comes
from many sources, such as agriculture, mining and timber activities, our roads
and city streets, and other activities associated with urban and suburban
development. The law already includes provisions to reduce these more diverse
sources of pollution into waters, but the law should be strengthened to include
a more enforceable, effective national program that tackles runoff pollution
watershed by watershed.
Protecting Our Wetlands. In recent years, the portion of the CWA dealing with wetlands protection has come under fire from industry groups that want to develop land without the burden of protecting our wetlands resources. Wetlands are among our nation's most fragile and most valuable ecosystems. Wetlands serve as a natural filter to clean water of toxic chemicals that might otherwise pollute our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. They act as natural sponges to help prevent flooding. Rather than rolling back wetlands protection on specious private property rights grounds, we need to streamline and strengthen wetlands preservation.