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    Success Story About Water Pollution: by James Salzman

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    Thế Anh Đoàn
    The Clean Water Act of 1972 was a landmark law that reversed decades of allowing raw sewage and industrial pollution to be dumped into US waterways. Prior to the law, many rivers and lakes had become severely polluted and posed health risks. The law established strict water quality standards and regulated discharges from industry and sewage plants. It also provided funding for infrastructure to treat sewage. As a result of the law, water quality dramatically improved within decades - rivers that had caught fire were now safe for recreation and wildlife was returning. The Clean Water Act stands as one of the great successes in US environmental law.

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    Success Story About Water Pollution: by James Salzman

    Uploaded by

    Thế Anh Đoàn
    62 views2 pages
    The Clean Water Act of 1972 was a landmark law that reversed decades of allowing raw sewage and industrial pollution to be dumped into US waterways. Prior to the law, many rivers and lakes had become severely polluted and posed health risks. The law established strict water quality standards and regulated discharges from industry and sewage plants. It also provided funding for infrastructure to treat sewage. As a result of the law, water quality dramatically improved within decades - rivers that had caught fire were now safe for recreation and wildlife was returning. The Clean Water Act stands as one of the great successes in US environmental law.

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    The Clean Water Act of 1972 was a landmark law that reversed decades of allowing raw sewage and industrial pollution to be dumped into US waterways. Prior to the law, many rivers and lakes had become severely polluted and posed health risks. The law established strict water quality standards and regulated discharges from industry and sewage plants. It also provided funding for infrastructure to treat sewage. As a result of the law, water quality dramatically improved within decades - rivers that had caught fire were now safe for recreation and wildlife was returning. The Clean Water Act stands as one of the great successes in US environmental law.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    62 views2 pages

    Success Story About Water Pollution: by James Salzman

    Uploaded by

    Thế Anh Đoàn
    The Clean Water Act of 1972 was a landmark law that reversed decades of allowing raw sewage and industrial pollution to be dumped into US waterways. Prior to the law, many rivers and lakes had become severely polluted and posed health risks. The law established strict water quality standards and regulated discharges from industry and sewage plants. It also provided funding for infrastructure to treat sewage. As a result of the law, water quality dramatically improved within decades - rivers that had caught fire were now safe for recreation and wildlife was returning. The Clean Water Act stands as one of the great successes in US environmental law.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    SUCCESS STORY ABOUT WATER POLLUTION

    Why Rivers No Longer


    Burn?

    The Clean Water Act is one of the greatest successes in environmental law.

    By James Salzman
    The Cuyahoga River, "the river that caught fire"
    Photo by Ken Lund/Flickr.

    A river catches fire, so polluted that its waters have “no visible life, not even low
    forms such as leeches and sludge worms.” This could describe the mythological River Styx
    from Hades. Residents of Cleveland, though, may recognize the government’s assessment of
    their own Cuyahoga River in 1969. While hard to imagine today, discharging raw sewage
    and pollution into our harbors and rivers has been common practice for most of the
    nation’s history, with devastating results. By the late 1960s, Lake Erie had become so
    polluted that Time magazine described it as dead. Bacteria levels in the Hudson River were
    170 times above the safe limit.

    I can attest to the state of the Charles River in Boston. While sailing in the 1970s, I
    capsized and had to be treated by a dermatologist for rashes caused by contact with the
    germ-laden waters. You can see the poor state of our waters for yourself in the iconic 1971
    “Crying Indian” commercial.

    In 1972, a landmark law reversed the course of this filthy tide. Today, four decades
    later, the Clean Water Act stands as one of the great success stories of environmental
    law. Supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, the act took a completely new
    approach to environmental protection. The law flatly stated there would be no
    discharge of pollutants from a point source (a pipe or ditch) into navigable waters
    without a permit. No more open sewers dumping crud into the local stream or bay.
    Permits would be issued by environmental officials and require the installation of the best
    available pollution-control technologies.

    The waste flushed down drains and toilets needed a different approach, so the Clean
    Water Act provided for billions of dollars in grants to construct and upgrade publicly
    owned sewage-treatment works around the nation. To protect the lands that filter and
    purify water as it flows by, permits were also required for draining and filling
    wetlands.
    Protecting our nation’s waters may seem like common sense today, but the idea of
    nationally uniform, tough standards against polluters was both original and radical.
    Thinking big, the Clean Water Act’s preamble declared that the nation’s waters would be
    swimmable and fishable within a decade, with no discharges of pollutants within a dozen
    years. These weren’t idle boasts.

    Remember a similarly bold claim in 1960 that the nation would land a man on the
    moon and return him safely within a decade? This was an age of technological optimism.
    Water pollution posed a national threat, and a national mission was necessary to turn back
    and clean the tide.

    By many measures, the Clean Water Act has fulfilled the ambition of its drafters. The
    sewage discharges that were commonplace in the 1960s are rare. The number of waters
    meeting quality goals has roughly doubled. Once a convenient dumping ground for all
    manner of filth, rivers now represent an urban gem. Hartford, Conn.; Kansas City, Kan.;
    Cleveland; and other cities have based much of their redevelopment around their now
    clean and inviting waters, with waterfront parks and the lure of fishing and trails
    along the water’s edge.

    Sailing on the Charles River is no longer a hazardous pursuit, and thanks to a


    new treatment plant, the rejuvenated Boston Harbor is once more home to herring,
    porpoises, and seals. More people have access to safe drinking water from their taps
    than ever before.

    Cause of water pollution

    Oil pollution

    Industrial waste

    Global Warming

    Marine Dumping

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