Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA), which is contained in Chapter 33, Sections 1251 to 1299 of the Act. It grew from the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, in which Congress authorized the federal government to give state and local governments money to solve water pollution problems (Richman, 1999, p. 1). The act included a grant program to provide money to help local governments design and plan wastewater problems, but the money was never appropriated. Over the next two decades, Congress passed two Federal Water Pollution Control Acts (FWPCA), in 1956 and in 1961, and the Water Quality Act in 1965 (Richman, 1999, p. 2). The 1956 act created the Construction Grants Program, administered by the Public Health Service, to give money to local governments for up to 30 percent of plant construction costs. President John Kennedy signed the first two amendments in 1961.
The 1965 act required states to develop water quality standards for interstate waters and created the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration to establish guidelines, approve state standards, and assume responsibility for administering federal assistance (Richman, 1999, p. 2). Four years later, President Nixon proclaimed that environmental protection would be one of his high priorities, and followed through on his promise by creating the EPA in 1970. In 1971, Muskie introduced a comprehensive and prescriptive clean water bill, S.2770, which was passed by the Senate on November 2, 1971. It was an effluent-limitation-driven program based on ecological principles. This was followed in 1972 by bill H. R. 11896, which was based on water quality.
Congress passed the conference report for the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 on October 4. Nixon delayed signing the bill and vetoed the legislation, but Congress overrode the veto, and it finally became l...