Fifty Years Later: 5 Clean Water Act Success Stories

In 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act with the intention to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation's waterways. This law represented an astounding step towards protecting our Nation’s waters by requiring states to set clean water standards to provide benefits for drinking water, public health, recreation, and wildlife. More than fifty years later, the Clean Water Act has funded approximately 35,000 grants totaling $1 trillion invested towards curbing water pollution. As a result, 700 billion pounds of pollution have been diverted from America’s rivers and the number of waters that meet clean water goals has doubled since 1972.