Marking the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, Congress declared 2002 the Year of Clean Water. The state of the nation's waterways has improved since the 1960s when dead fish were washing ashore and lakes were catching on fire. But there is still room for improvement.
The graphic shows the percentage of waterways classified as impaired or "not attainable" for beneficial uses. Beneficial uses include aquatic life support, fish consumption, shell- fish harvesting, drinking water supply, recreation, and agriculture — uses recommended by the EPA. Before 1972, some states defined one beneficial uses as "waste assimilation," making dumping legal in some cases. The Clean Water Act Banned this as an appropriate use.
"Impaired" means that some beneficial uses are only partially supported or not supported at all. The water may not be safe enough to drink, for instance. When a body of water is considered not attainable, beneficial uses are not supported at all due to one of six biological, chemical, physical, or economic and social conditions specified in Federal regulations. Some of these include naturally high concentrations of pollutants, natural physical features that make the body of water unsuitable for a habitat, or poor water quality that cannot be reversed without creating more environmental damage.
The U.S. has more than 3.5 million miles of rivers and streams, approximately 40.8 million acres of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, over 34,000 square miles of estuaries5, over 58,000 miles of ocean shoreline, and over 5,500 miles of Great Lakes shoreline. Under section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act, 61 states, American Indian Tribes, Territories, Interstate Water Commissions, and the District of Columbia are required to submit water quality information to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA then compiles the data into the National Water Quality Inventory report, which EPA sends to Congress.
Due to budget constraints, not all bodies of water are assessed for this biennial report. Ocean shoreline is the least represented with 5 to 9% being assessed from 1992 to 1998. The Great Lakes shoreline was the most represented with 90 to 99% being assessed during this time period.
From 1992 to 1998, pollution levels diminished. Ocean shorelines became cleaner where cleaned up — but more miles were polluted in 1998 than in 1994. More acres of lakes, reservoirs, and ponds became cleaner from 1992 to 1994, but, after that, the percentage of polluted acres rose. Estuaries and the Great Lakes shoreline became more polluted over this time span. The big jump in the percentage of polluted Great Lakes shoreline from 1992 to 1994 may have more to do with state regulations (which control what contaminants are checked for) than with a sudden mass contamination of the waters. Reporting entities have some flexibility in determining the criteria for each assessment and these criteria may change every two years. Because the reporting of quality of the Great Lakes shoreline is shared by a few states, pollution regulation in one or more states may have an exaggerated impact.
Despite the apparent rise in water pollution levels in some types of bodies of water, the state of the nation's water supply is better than it was in 1972 when the Clean Water Act was first enacted. In 1972, 33% of the nation's water was safe for fishing and swimming. By 1997, 66% was safe for fishing and swimming. Erosion of soil due to agricultural runoff (one of the major pollutants in rivers and streams) was reduced by 1 billion tons from 1972 to 1997. And, modern wastewater treatment facilities serve twice (173 million) the number of people they did in 1972.
Sources: Office of Water. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Water Quality Report, 1992-1996. Retrieved June 26, 2002 from http://www.epa.gov/305b. U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Federal Water Pollution Control Act." Retrieved June 27, 2002 from http://www.yearofcleanwater.org. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Clean Water Act: A Brief History," 1997. Retrieved June 26, 2002 from http://www.epa.gov/owow/cwa/history.htm. "What is an Estuary?" Retrieved June 26, 2002 from http://www.estuaries.org/estuarywhat.html.
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