
Water Pollution and Control Act History And Future - Let's make sure the powers that be don't create a future such as in the image!
The Federal Water Pollution and Control Act (Clean Water Act) was originally made into law June 30, 1948 as statute (Ch. 758; P,L. 845), which authorized the U.S. Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, in cooperation with other Federal, state and local entities to prepare comprehensive programs with the intention of either reducing or entirely eliminating the pollution of interstate waters and tributaries and improving the sanitary condition of surface and underground waters. During the development of these plans, due process was to be given to improvements necessary to conserve waters for public water supplies, propagation of fish and aquatic life, recreational purposes, and agricultural and industrial uses. The original statute also authorized the Federal Works Administrator to assist states, municipalities, and interstate agencies in constructing treatment plants to prevent discharges of inadequately treated sewage and other wastes into interstate waters or tributaries.

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The Federal Water Pollution and Control Act of 1948 was not the first issuance of clean water directives however, as earlier versions were created, such as the
Rivers & Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899 which is the oldest federal environmental law in the United States. It was originally enacted as the River and Harbor Act of 1886, but was later re-codified into the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The Act of 1899 made the discharge of refuse matter of any kind into the navigable waters, or tributaries thereof, of the United States without a permit a misdemeanor which was specifically referred to as the Refuse Act. The Rivers and Harbors Act also makes it a misdemeanor to excavate, fill, or alter the course, condition, or capacity of any port, harbor, channel, or other areas within the reach of the Act without a valid permit. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 also made it illegal to dam navigable streams without a license (or permit) from Congress and was included for the purposes of hydroelectric generation, at a time when the electric utility industry was expanding quite rapidly.
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