Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments

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

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ollaborate to remediate and preserve estuaries. Over the past 25 years of the CWA, an enormous cost burden has shifted from the federal government to local governments. The more that municipalities spend on clean water, the higher the rates are going to go, and there will be fewer dollars to help communities. Although the SRF program brought about sweeping changes to the CWA, even greater revisions were proposed in H. R. 961, which the Republican-dominated House of Representatives passed in May 1995. The bill was designed to give dischargers more flexibility to meet standards by altering regulations affecting wetlands, stormwater, industrial pretreatment, and other areas. The Clinton administration opposed H. R. 961, but industry and state and local governments supported it (Richman, 1999, p. 5). Every interest group in Washington, D. C., except the environmental organizations, supported it. The bill reauthorized funding for SRF, but the Senate never proposed a companion bill, and H. R. 961 died. The purpose of the CWA was to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters. The programs have resulted in significant reductions in the discharge of toxic and organic pollutants i

Category: Government - F