Water Pollution Control Act

THE LAW Federal legislation extending the reach of the national government to a limited degree, by establishing cooperative arrangements between it and the states for the prevention and abatement of water pollution.

DATE Enacted on June 30, 1948

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act was the first major law to deal with the issue of water pollution, capping a half-century campaign of health workers, conservationists, and sportsmen to obtain legislation that would lessen the urban and industrial impacts on American lakes and rivers. Although cumbersome and ineffective in its initial formulation, the law laid the groundwork for later and more effective legislation.

During and after World War II, a burgeoning population and the rapid growth of heavy industry put unprecedented strains upon existing systems of environmental control in the United States, bolstering the arguments of conservationists that action was required at the federal level to protect the environment. Although President Harry S. Truman was opposed by the Republican-dominated Congress in his domestic initiatives, a compromise allowed the enactment of the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948.

Intended to provide a comprehensive national program for preventing and abating water pollution, the law, as it was passed, gave the federal government jurisdiction over interstate waters only. If waters entirely within a single state’s boundaries became polluted, they fell outside federal control, even if they were judged to threaten public health. Moreover, the federal government’s role was limited to initiating and coordinating water-protection efforts, supplying technical and research support, and awarding grants.

The law authorized the surgeon general of the United States to bring an abatement action in the case of interstate waters being polluted, but only after surmounting a series of obstacles. Even when a health issue was involved, the surgeon general had to obtain approvals from all the states involved. The law also gave the individual states practically unchecked power to override initiatives of the surgeon general.

The act effectively restricted the federal government to preparing abatement plans for remedying polluted waters, and to providing the required support for these plans. It included no prohibitions of activities that led to water pollution. It also failed to establish standards for pollutants or to enact restrictions on new pollution sources. On the other hand, the law did authorize the federal works administrator to assist states, municipalities and interstate agencies in constructing treatment plants in locations affecting interstate waters.

Impact

Little pollution abatement occurred as a direct result of the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948. In helping reduce the flow of undertreated sewage and other pollutants into interstate waters, however, it did begin the process of mitigating a worsening water-quality situation. The 1948 measure also proved pivotal in the precedent it set. Bringing to fruition decades of effort by conservationists to enact federal protection for lakes and rivers, it provided a foundation for the more effective laws of subsequent decades, most notably the wholesale legislative overhaul that would become known as the Clean Water Act of 1973.

Bibliography

Adler, Robert W., Jessica C. Landman, and Diane M. Camero. The Clean Water Act Twenty Years Later. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1993.

Francko, David A., and Robert G. Wetzel. To Quench Our Thirst: The Present and Future Status of Freshwater Resources of the United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1983.

Vigil, Kenneth M. Clean Water: An Introduction to Water Quality and Pollution Control. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2003.