The Clean Water Act turns 42 on Saturday. To celebrate we'll be sharing reflections on the Act, talking about the fight to protect clean water, and discussing what we can all do to put drinking water first. This is the first in our series, and it's a 2-parter, so stay tuned for more.
12 Clean Water Act Facts (part 1 of 2) -- Learn these and you’ll be an expert
by Jonathan A. Scott, a member of Clean Water Action's development and communications teams, @jscottnh
FACT #1: First passed in 1972, the Clean Water Act was not a new law but rather a complete overhaul of earlier legislation, the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act
FACT #2: Clean Water Action (then known as Fisherman’s Clean Water Action Project) played important roles in this 1972 victory:
- Publishing and publicizing the book, Water Wasteland (by Clean Water Action’s founder, David Zwick), which uniquely combined research and grassroots organizing with the communities and constituencies featured in the book’s case studies, helped to galvanize public support for action by Congress.
- Working directly with Congressional staff and leaders to develop the Act’s sweeping goals and policy provisions including a major role in drafting key language used in the Act (e.g., around public participation and citizen suits, “zero discharge” goals, and more)
- Mobilizing the public, including groups and leaders involved in Water Wasteland research and organizing and the fishing tackle industry to reinforce Clean Water Action’s Capitol Hill lobbying with grassroots political muscle.
FACT #3: President Richard M. Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act and never signed the legislation. It became law only once Congress overrode the President’s veto, with strong bipartisan support.
FACT #4: Congress’ clear intent when it passed the law in 1972 was to protect all water. This intent is reflected in the Clean Water Act’s main purpose, stated in the bill’s opening lines:
“The objective of this Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”
FACT #5: As a strategic concession to get the bill passed, Clean Water Action, allies and
Congressional leaders allowed some specific exemptions – most notably for mining, oil and gas development and agriculture – with the clear expectation that these serious shortcomings would be addressed in the future. This intent was expressed in two ways:
- Clear goals and deadlines that could only be met through the eventual elimination of these exemptions: 1) “discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters” to be eliminated by 1985; 2) “discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts” to be prohibited; and, 3) “interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983.” This last item is one of the famous “fishable, swimmable” provisions.
- Specific direction on the problem of non-point pollution: “programs for the control of nonpoint sources of pollution be developed and implemented in an expeditious manner so as to enable the goals of this Act to be met”
FACT #6: In a similar concession, the
Congress opted to address drinking water issues separately rather than in a unified way as Clean Water Action and allies had originally intended. Congress finally passed separate legislation, the Safe Drinking Water Act, in 1974, with Clean Water Action again playing a major leadership role in developing the policy and campaigning for its adoption. However,
Clean Water Action’s active hand in the 1972 Clean Water Act ensured that it also contained many tools which could eventually be harnessed to protect drinking water sources.
FACT #7: During the early to mid- 1970s, while polluters already exerted a powerful influence on Capitol Hill – this was the major reason the original Clean Water Act stopped well short of what was needed, incorporating so many exemptions and loopholes –
a handful of well-informed public interest lobbyists with science, the facts, common sense and strong grassroots public support on their side were able to win major legislative victories. That situation changed rapidly so that by the late 1970’s the only viable strategy for Clean Water Action
to defend past victories and secure new protections required a dramatic increase in grassroots power. Three of Clean Water Action’s first field organizing and canvassing projects were launched to blaze the way, in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey. Congressional delegations from these three states at the time essentially controlled the House and Senate committees which would determine the fate of most federal water legislation and funding. With a strong Clean Water Action presence in their home states and districts, these Congressional leaders soon became much stronger clean water advocates and allies for Clean Water Action.
FACT #8: Like most federal environmental laws, federal agencies’ role is to create baseline standards and requirements and
states are in the lead on implementing and enforcing the program with federal support:
“It is the policy of the Congress to recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution, to plan the development and use (including restoration, preservation, and enhancement) of land and water resources…”
When polluters raise the spectre of out-of-control federal authority, they’re choosing to ignore the fact that under the Clean Water Act, states are the ones responsible for protecting the water, with support from the federal government in the form of standards, funding and other carrots and sticks.
BONUS FACT: Fundamental clean water protections are under assault. The Obama Administration's common-sense proposal for fixing the Clean Water Act to restore protection for small streams, wetlands and drinking water sources critical to more than one in three Americans faces opposition from the country's most powerful and well-heeled polluters and their allies in Congress.
If you care about clean water, now is the time for you to weigh in. Make sure your voice is a part of this critical clean water debate. It's easy. Do it now: www.ProtectCleanWater.org then help spread the word.
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