Weather Words: Clean Water Act

Imagine a world where there are no regulations on the amount of toxins that are dumped into our waterways. Imagine a world where there is no regulation on how safe our drinking water is. Because of the initial Earth Day in 1970, there are regulations in place to protect our waterways and because of that, countless marine species have been saved, as well as our health.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) was passed in 1972, in order to protect the nation’s water resources. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it sets water quality standards, regulates the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters, and aims to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of those waters.

It’s estimated that every year, 700 billion pounds of toxic pollutants are prevented from entering our waterways, according to the NRDC. Because of this, the rate of wetland loss has decreased substantially, and certain fish species have made a comeback due to cleaner habitats.

“Lake Erie was dying and that the other Great Lakes were threatened by pollution from the steel plants, oil refineries, paper mills, and city sewage plants which for the previous one hundred years had befouled the world's largest fresh water system.”

While we have come a long way since the 1970s, our waterways still face challenges. Nutrient pollutants from agriculture and wastewater runoff remains a huge problem. Our aging infrastructure often leads to leaks and pollution in our waterways. The warming water due to climate change is also having an impact on the ecosystems in our freshwater habitats.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.