Celebrating 52 Years of the Clean Water Act

Today marks the 52^nd anniversary of the Clean Water Act, a landmark piece of legislation that transformed the health of our nation’s rivers, lakes, and wetlands. When it passed in 1972, the Clean Water Act garnered overwhelming bipartisan support—336 votes to 11 in the House and a unanimous Senate vote, even overriding President Nixon's veto. This historic support reflected a widespread concern for the polluted and hazardous state of America’s waterways.

Before the Clean Water Act, there were virtually no regulations governing water pollution, leading to severe impacts on both human health and wildlife. In New York City, hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage were dumped into the Hudson River daily, resulting in dangerously high bacteria levels. Ohio’s Cuyahoga River famously caught fire multiple times due to oil and industrial waste. And these weren’t isolated incidents—many of the country’s rivers and wetlands were facing similar degradation. In some instances, there were massive fish die-offs, creating profound impacts on birds and communities.

But thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Water Act, our waterways are now in significantly better condition. The Act established enforceable standards, resulting in cleaner rivers, healthier ecosystems, and safer communities.

Yet, last year a U.S. Supreme Court decision placed some waterways—seasonal streams or smaller waterways disconnected from other major water bodies—outside the Act’s protections. This change undermines the EPA’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ authority to regulate pollution and development in these critical areas, leaving vulnerable wetlands and smaller water bodies at risk.

Furthermore, this Supreme Court decision resulted in a 50-state patchwork of water regulations, creating confusion and uncertainty for state regulatory agencies. Establishing an appropriate state regulatory program requires resources, time, dedication, expertise, and staff. Wetland permitting requires scientific and technical expertise which many state agencies lack. Without sufficient budgeting, expertise, and authority, any state-created program is destined to fail in protecting smaller waterbodies from unregulated dredge and fill. Before this decision, federal permits were subject to review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), granting the public oversight into the process; many states do not have a state-level equivalent for environmental review and public comment.

As birds migrate throughout the hemisphere, so too does water migrate throughout watersheds and across political boundaries. This makes regulation of clean water a federal responsibility as the bipartisan creators of the Clean Water Act originally intended. Reducing federal regulatory jurisdiction decreases the ability for federal oversight and management of our nation’s waterways.

In fact, 138 species (and subspecies) of birds in the United States are designated “wetland dependent.” This includes cranes, grebes, herons, kingfishers, loons, owls, perching birds, pelicans, shorebirds, falcons, and waterfowl. With the loss of over 3 billion birds in just the past 50 years, protecting our waterways—particularly smaller waterbodies that are lifelines for migratory birds—is more important than ever.

Audubon, along with conservation, recreation, and business communities, remains committed to defending the Clean Water Act and the health of our nation’s waterways for generations to come. Audubon urges lawmakers to move past partisan politics when it comes to clean water, so everyone—birds and people alike—can benefit from clean, abundant water.