Given the current situation of Climate Change and the slowly dwindling resources of the clean air, water, and land; various actions have already been implemented to prevent further damage. Some have tried to rehabilitate barren lands and dead bodies of waters; others imposed various regulations and policies that would regulate current supplies of resources around their respective regions. Nations have felt the effects of global warming and thus have been trying out various procedures to sustain life and protect the dwindling natural resource. In terms of water, the United States has enforced programs that would ensure that the public would still have access to clean water and protect the environment. This year, the country celebrates the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Clean Water Act; the act had managed to improve water quality and management in the region by ensuring that the water management would cover newer means of water contamination and use.
Like other nations, the United States also had a problem over their water resources since the early 1900s. Water quality remained only as a regional concern for both state and local actors with the federal government only given out limited grants to these actors to ensure wastewater treatment is given to the public. Grants to use wastewater treatment began in 1956, with the federal government only assisting in a small degree in information and strategic planning. Identification of water quality also varied per state as each state judge their water quality standards upon its use. However, throughout the late 1900s, the public slowly felt the effects of using the country’s waterways as a place for waste disposal and transport due to the reduced water quality. There were also incidents which contributed to the reducing water quality such as the 1969 oil slick in Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, noted to be one of the country’s polluted waters. The incident covered Akron to Cleveland, making the water devoid of any biodiversity from 1950-1960. Several fires had also happened in the area, starting in 1868. Another research done by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1973 indicated that the general water quality of the country had improved slightly in the past few decades . As a result of the increasing demand for clean water, the US government had issued several water policies to sustain the public’s demand and protect the nation’s resource. The first and oldest federal environmental law in existence was signed in 1899, the River and Harbors Act. Under the statute, it is a crime to dispose matter of any kind into the navigable waters of the country without getting a license or a permit. The act also became a means to improve the situation of the country’s lakes and bodies of water as it is now filled with floating debris from wastes and other organisms fostering contamination. However, the act was not capable of eliminating the threats as waste discharge continued to be dumped in water bodies such as asphalt, bleach, paints, and wastes.
The Congress then amended all the CWA policies by the 1970s to include additional provisions; covering pollution discharges around the nation, up to the issue on nonpoint source pollution. The 1972 amendments introduced basic foundations for pollutant regulation, powers for the EPA to implement pollution control procedures, additional requirements for water quality, additional provisions for people charged with discharging pollutants in the countries waters, and also the identification of critical risks caused by nonpoint source pollution from waste, and other factors. Amendments for the CWA were also done in 1981, placing funding for the local actors to give out grants to citizens adhering to wastewater treatment guidelines. In 1987, the act also included the establishment of the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund, removing the need for local grants. Under the new fund, EPA-state partnerships are fostered to ensure that each state would follow the needed water quality rates noted by the CWA. By the 1990s, the Clean Water Act also included several changes such as the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990, which sustains the reduction of toxic pollutants in the Great Lakes between the US and the Canadians. The EPA had also been given additional responsibilities to ensure water quality for the Great Lakes, and criteria to follow for recovery and treatment of these bodies of water .
Like any other proposal, there were also some questions as to the power of the CWA to enforce the entire policy, the power of the federal government and the controversies surrounding the act. With regards to the power of the government actors, states are given power to release permits for waste dischargers due to the lack of capacity of the federal government to do daily monitoring and enforcement around the country’s water bodies. The EPA and the states are also given more capacity under the CWA to enforce its policies. While the states have primary control over enacting the CWA, the EPA is restrained to only see the general adherence of state enforcement. With regards to the controversies around the CWA, the act still is unclear with regards to the power of the EPA since it could enforce direct action if they believe a state failed to act in correspondence to request of the EPA .
Today, the US federal government continues to update the Clean Water Act by adapting policies to incorporate actions for newer means of water pollution – such as chemical and oil spills, and even waste management from sewers and other man-made installations. The past 40 years showcased that the Clean Water Act of the United States catered not only to the pollution aspect of water protection, but also with the monitoring and assessment of the country’s bodies of water. While there are still lapses in terms of responsibility for the various government actors, the CWA had listed down roles that must be given so that programs under the act are placed in order. In its entirety, the CWA had indeed fulfilled its purpose of being the country’s main force in water protection and management.
Works Cited
Copeland, Claudia. Clean Water Act: A Summary of the Law. Report for Congress. Washington, D.C.: US Congressional Research Service, 2010. Print.
Harrington, Winston. Regulating Industrial Water Pollution in the United States. Discussion Paper. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, 2003. Print.
Selendy, Janine. Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges. Interventions, and Preventive Measures. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. Print.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. "History of the Clean Water Act." United States Environmental Protection Agency, 23 August 2012. Web. 4 November 2012
