Story at a glance
- In the 1960s some U.S. rivers were so polluted that they regularly caught on fire.
- The 1972 Clean Water Act marked a turning point in cleaning up rivers.
- Today’s rivers are markedly cleaner and safer, though some challenges remain.
Remember that time a river in Ohio caught fire? It’s been 50 years since a Time Magazine article put the issue of water quality in the national spotlight. After the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, the nation’s waterways have gotten cleaner — although it didn’t seem like they could get much worse.
When an oil slick on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire on June 22, 1969, it didn’t come as a surprise. According to Smithsonian.com, the river had caught fire at least a dozen times before. In 1958, the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission found that the waterways in the region regularly had a pH of less than 4, acidic enough to rust steel-hulled boats meant to last 20 years in three.
Since the CWA was passed, the river has seen significant improvements. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the pH of the Ohio River in Nov. 2019 averaged between 7 and 8. People can swim in the Ohio River now, although they must be cautious of algae blooms and bacteria conditions. And residents in the region can monitor the safety of their tap water.
“I think we’re at a transition point now where there is an overwhelming public consensus on the need for businesses to reduce pollution in community waterways and for our state and federal governments to step up by implementing enforceable regulatory standards leading to cleaner, safe drinking water, robust fisheries and enjoyable outdoor recreation,” Howard Learner, president of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, told WOSU.
There is still more work to do. The Ohio River was the most polluted in the county for seven years in a row in 2015, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And while the CWA significantly reduced the amount of contaminants found in local streams, according to WOSU, the United States still has not complied with the pollution and quality goals it set for 1983.
The Trump administration has proposed changes to the EPA’s regulations under the CWA. WOSU reports those changes include limits to environmental aquatic impact statements and waiving a required permit to dump regulated pollutants into large bodies of water after a certain period of time.
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