III.

Legislative History

The federal government's efforts to control water pollution in the United States began with the passage of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1890. Although this law prohibited any discharge of filth and other pollutants that would impede navigation by boats and ships, it specifically exempted waste runoff from streets and sewers.

As the nation continued to grow and industrialize, the problem of water pollution grew along with it. Tons of untreated wastes were dumped into waterways from industries, farms, and city sewers. This waste made rivers, lakes, and harbors increasingly unsuitable for use as drinking water, for recreational activities such as swimming and boating, and as habitat for fish and other wildlife. In 1948 the Congress of the United States passed the Water Pollution Control Act in an effort to deal with the problem of waste runoff. The law originally authorized the U.S. surgeon general to organize programs aimed at reducing the discharge of pollutants into waterways.

By the late 1960s it became clear that such legislative action was not enough. Beaches across the nation were closed due to polluted waters. Severe pollution problems on some of the nation’s best-known waterways, including the Great Lakes, the Potomac River, and Boston Harbor, riveted public attention. The crisis was exemplified in 1969 by a fire on the surface of the polluted Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. A flammable mixture of industrial waste, marine engine oil, and gas caused the blaze, which damaged two railroad bridges. Publicity about the Cuyahoga fire helped galvanize public support for more stringent government action against industrial water pollution.

In 1972 the U.S. Congress passed a set of amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act. These amendments were designed to reduce the pollution in the nation’s waters through the regulation of pollutant discharges by businesses and industry. Although the term had already been widely applied to the 1972 legislation, the U.S. Congress officially adopted the name Clean Water Act in 1977, when it passed another set of amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act. This legislation added new guidelines for measuring and regulating toxic water pollutants. In 1987 the U.S. Congress reauthorized the CWA and added new provisions, simplifying the process for citizen lawsuits against polluters and providing funding for new sewage treatment facilities.