The Clean Water Act in Retrospect

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (PL 92-500), with modest changes in 1977, 1982, and 1987, has been the framework for water pollution control in the United States for the past 18 years. That legislation, now referred to as the Clean Water Act, along with the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, is among the major accomplishments of the environmental movement of the 1960s and 70s.