The History of the 1972 Clean Water Act And How it Became Law

Post-War Reforms towards Federal Water Pollution Control in the 1940s

In 1945, Congress began holding hearings on four bills proposing federal anti-pollution laws. However, water pollution control only regained attention in 1947, with Congress considering four nearly identical bills promoting the creation of a federal water pollution control program. Congressmen Brent Spence, Senators Alben Barkley, Robert Taft, and Frederick Vinson actively promoted the legislation, which was closely based on the 1938 legislation vetoed by President Roosevelt.

During the 1947 Senate hearings, the necessity for federal involvement in preventing stream pollution became evident. The resulting bill passed the Senate in 1947 and underwent significant modifications in the House. The first Federal Water Pollution Control Act, signed by President Truman on June 30, 1948, was a temporary measure with a five-year lifespan, requiring reauthorization in 1953.

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) of 1948 was the first major law enacted by Congress to address water pollution in the United States. By 1948, industrial and urban growth fueled by World War II had led to significant pollution of the country’s rivers, streams, and lakes, impelling Congress to confront the issue. Despite numerous attempts, totaling over 100 bills, legislation had not been successful until then.

Before 1948, various minor laws dealt with aspects of water pollution, with the Refuse Act of 1899 being the only notable one. In the years just prior to World War II, states and municipalities took some steps to address water pollution, but war production halted these efforts.

In the postwar period, attention returned to the country’s polluted waters. It was reported in 1945 that over 3,500 communities pumped 2.5 billion tons of raw sewage into streams, lakes, and coastal waters every day. The Surgeon General warned that, as a consequence, over half of the U.S. population relied on drinking water supplies of doubtful purity.

Despite the Senate Committee on Public Works highlighting the dangers of water pollution, gaining political support for a water pollution proposal was challenging. Legislators generally considered water body control a responsibility of the states and viewed federal regulation with suspicion.

In 1948, the 80th Congress achieved a legislative compromise with the support of President Harry S. Truman. Although there was general consensus on the need to clean up polluted water, disagreements persisted on the extent of waters to be covered, the rights of the states, and the role of the federal government.

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act’s purpose was to provide a comprehensive program for preventing, abating, and controlling water pollution. The act gave individual states most of the responsibility for abating water pollution and encouraged interstate agreements. The law did not specifically prohibit polluting activities, set standards, or limit new sources of pollution.

The act was not effective in preventing and abating water pollution. Pollution continued to increase, and the quality of the nation’s waters did not significantly improve. However, the act demonstrated popular and political support for pollution control efforts, establishing the basic framework for water pollution control.

Congress amended the act six times before completely rewriting it in the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, which is now commonly known as the Clean Water Act.

The Evolution of the Federal Water Pollution Control Program from Beginning Steps in the 1948 Act to the Comprehensive 1965 Water Quality Act

Shortcomings of the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act

Looking back through the lens of modern water pollution control, the 1948 Act could be generously described as a promising start on a comprehensive federal program. The federal role, as envisioned by the 1948 Act, took a backseat to state and local pollution control activities. Congress declared federal jurisdiction over “the waterways of the Nation” in the Act’s opening sentence but then focused on a federal policy primarily supporting state and local agencies in their water pollution abatement efforts through research, technical services, and financial assistance.

Administrative responsibility for operating the federal program was assigned to the Public Health Service (PHS) under the leadership of the Surgeon General. The 1948 Act outlined several areas for cooperation between state and federal programs, always deferring to state programs to decide whether federal assistance was needed and how it should be provided. The Act specifically encouraged the development of uniform state laws and the creation of interstate compacts to regulate water pollution. Additionally, the Act authorized funds for modest grants to state agencies for surveys and studies of existing and potential pollution problems, as well as loans to subsidize the cost of necessary waste treatment facilities. However, a significant issue was that Congress did not appropriate any funds for the first year of the new federal agency, and in subsequent years, it only appropriated about ten percent of the authorized funds.

The initial federal program’s weakness was most apparent in the near-total absence of enforcement powers. The 1948 Act declared that any interstate water pollution condition endangering the health or welfare of persons in a state other than where the pollution originated was a public nuisance subject to abatement. However, abatement of the nuisance was far from simple. When a pollution claim was made, the Act authorized the Surgeon General to investigate whether actionable pollution was actually occurring. If the investigation found pollution, the 1948 Act required the agency to notify the polluter of the actions needed to abate the nuisance and grant them reasonable time to comply with the abatement plan.

If the polluter failed to take corrective action, the 1948 Act authorized the Surgeon General to request the Federal Security Administrator to conduct a public hearing to determine whether it was reasonable and equitable to secure abatement of the pollution. If the public hearing deemed abatement appropriate, the Surgeon General could request the U.S. Attorney General to bring a suit against the polluter to secure abatement of the public nuisance—once again, only after the state pollution control agency had given its consent to the suit. It is hard to imagine an enforcement procedure more poorly designed to secure prompt and meaningful action from industrial or municipal polluters, who were assumed to be the primary culprits during this era.

B. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 (FWPCA) marked a significant milestone in the United States’ efforts to combat water pollution. Born out of the inadequacies of the 1948 Act, the 1956 Amendments provided a more organized and aggressive federal pollution control program, strengthening federal enforcement powers and increasing financial support for state and local control efforts. This article explores the history and impact of the FWPCA, detailing the key provisions and examining the challenges and successes of its implementation.

The 1956 Amendments

The implementation of the 1948 Act faced severe underfunding and understaffing of professional personnel, resulting in a slow start. In its first three years, the Public Health Service (PHS) gained little experience dealing with the nation’s water pollution issues but realized that the problems were far worse than initially assumed. Progress in establishing any serious regulatory activity was so sluggish that in 1952, Congress discreetly extended the temporary status of the agency for three more years, until 1956.

As the reauthorization of the federal program approached, Congress began constructing a permanent legislative base for the national water pollution control program in 1955. Senate hearings focused on two controversial proposals to strengthen the federal program established by the 1948 Act: granting the Surgeon General the power to establish water quality standards for interstate waters and strengthening federal enforcement powers. The former proposal was ultimately deemed too radical and removed from the reauthorization bill passed by the Senate, while the latter survived the Senate vote and was sent to the House of Representatives.

In 1956, the House held hearings on the Senate bill but took no action until a new House bill, authored by Congressman John A. Blatnik, was substituted. The House bill resembled the Senate bill, with two major changes: it weakened federal enforcement authority and introduced a new one-billion-dollar federal construction grant program to assist municipal waste treatment facilities. The House bill also did not provide for the creation of federal water quality standards. After some negotiation, Congress passed the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, and President Eisenhower signed the bill into law without further mention of water quality standards.

The 1956 amendments were technically appended to the 1948 Act’s bare skeleton but provided a better-organized and more aggressive federal pollution control program. Federal loyalty to state and local control efforts was reaffirmed, but the considerable increases in federal support and the modest strengthening of federal enforcement powers significantly expanded the federal government’s role in water pollution control.

Key Provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1956

Reaffirms the policy of Congress to recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of states in preventing and controlling water pollution.
Authorizes continued federal-state-interstate cooperation in the preparation and development of comprehensive programs for water pollution control.
Encourages cooperative activities by the states in the prevention and control of water pollution, the enactment of improved laws on pollution control, and the establishment of interstate compacts.
Authorizes increased technical assistance to states, a broadened research program, the establishment of research fellowships, and the collection and dissemination of basic data on water quality relating to the prevention and control of water pollution.
Authorizes grants to state and interstate agencies up to $3,000,000 a year for the next five years for pollution control activities.
Authorizes federal grants of $50,000,000 a year (with an aggregate of $500,000,000) for the construction of municipal sewage treatment works. The amount of grant for any one project cannot exceed 30 per cent of the cost, or $250,000, whichever is smaller.
Authorizing the appointment of a Water Pollution Control Advisory Board, with the only federal member being the Surgeon General or a designated sanitary engineering officer.
Modifying and simplifying procedures governing federal abatement action against interstate pollution.
Authorizing a cooperative program to control pollution from federal installations.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

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