By Dani Zacky

This year marks the 50th anniversary of our country’s Clean Water Act (CWA). In October 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act in order to help protect and repair America’s waterways. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was created two years prior in 1970, adopted and took responsibility for enforcing the CWA.

Before the Clean Water Act, only one third of America’s waterways were considered to be clean enough to be fishable or swimmable. You may have heard of the infamous Cuyahoga River in Ohio; a river so over-burdened by chemical dumping that it caught fire, not once, but multiple times. The Cuyahoga River became a symbol of America’s desperate need to step in and protect our waterways.

The goals of the CWA are to address these water quality issues by regulating the amount of pollutants discharged into our natural water systems, as well as by creating national standards for water quality. These water quality improvements have created positive impacts on the health of ecosystems, species, and communities.

The San Francisco Bay, being one of the world's most urbanized estuaries, desperately needed the protections of the Clean Water Act. Prior to the 1970s, the Bay was being inundated with untreated sewage, chemical waste dumping, and industrial particulate matter. Many wetlands on the edges of urban communities were used as dump facilities. The Bay has been home to all kinds of polluting industries, including those using radioactive materials and highly toxic chemicals that were being freely dumped into the water. Since the adoption of the Clean Water Act, the Bay’s water quality has improved tremendously. While regulatory agencies are not perfect in enforcement, the CWA also includes a citizen suit provision. These provisions empower communities to protect the waterways they love and rely on by allowing private citizens to take legal action and hold polluters accountable.

While it can be easy to be pessimistic about the state of our planet, the passing of the Clean Water Act and all the positive outcomes that have followed in its wake are a refreshing reminder of how regulatory action can make a difference. As challenges like sea level rise become a more prominent focus in how we protect our Bay ecosystems, biodiversity, and shoreline communities, remembering the success of the Clean Water Act can help motivate us to fight for regulations to address these issues.

The San Francisco Bay Chapter is working to activate members and volunteers interested in water, wetland, shoreline, and Bay issues. If you or a family member/friend would like to learn more about Bay issues, please contact SF Bay Chapter Organizer Dani Zacky at dani.zacky@sierraclub.org.

Dani Zacky is an organizer for the Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dominique Pineiro.