Water Quality
and Politics
Yup—even water has a history with politics. Although
the two didn’t mix until pretty recently, there have been a number of milestones
since the beginning of the 1900s…
The first major event was in 1908 when chlorination was first introduced into water in order to protect from diseases.
In 1972, the Clean Water Act was implemented to help improve the quality of our water. The main purpose of the act was to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters."
The Clean Water Act set up specific guidelines to reduce
pollutants entering all surface waters, including water supplies, and groundwater.
The act placed strict requirements on the amount of pollutants that could
be discharged to our waters, with no pollutants being the goal. For
water to be deemed of "good" quality, it must be clean enough for fishing,
swimming, and drinking.
In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act
was established as a result of demands to have drinking water standards.
This act required EPA to establish: 1) drinking water standards
or treatment techniques for contaminants that adversely affect human health,
and 2) requirements for monitoring the quality of drinking water
supplies and ensuring the proper operation and maintenance of public water
systems.
In 1977, the Clean Water Act was modified slightly. Congress expanded and specified the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandate to control the release of toxic pollutants into sewers and surface waters.
In 1986, the Safe Drinking Water Act was amended because many drinking water contaminants remained unregulated by the EPA. As a result of this legislation, the EPA was required to publish a triennial list of contaminants which are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water and which may require regulation under the Act.
In 1987, Congress adopted new programs to address polluted runoff from farms, factories, and city streets. It adopted special programs to clean up the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, and other polluted waters around the country. The act of 1987 initiated a program of grants to help water pollution in the states by allocating a certain amount of money to the states. The intent of these amendments was to get more funding from the federal level.
In 1995, the Clean Water Act was modified again. The House of Representatives modified the act to make the act more flexible and to provide help to businesses, states, local governments, and landowners. The bill asks that the states decide on achievable goals to attain for water quality. This gives the states more freedom to decide what is necessary to improve the quality of water in each state.
More recently, in 1996, the Safe Drinking Water
Act was amended yet again. This amendment will begin linking the
Safe Drinking Water Act to the Clean Water Act and other federal programs.
These latest amendments emphasize public information and outreach, pollution
prevention, and major funding for states and community water supply systems.
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