CLEVELAND — This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, and environmentalists came together Tuesday in Cleveland at the banks of the Cuyahoga River to celebrate.

The Cuyahoga River played a huge part in the Clean Water Act because in the past, it caught fire due to how polluted it was. Michael Regan, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, spoke at the celebration. 

 

What You Need To Know

  • The Clean Water Act was established 50 years ago 

  • The Cuyahoga River was one of the inspiring factors of this act because it was so polluted 

  • Cleveland took part in celebrating what the last 50 years has done for the environment

“When you come back and talk to community members and stand and have a river as a backdrop that would spontaneously catch fire because it was so polluted, it really brings the work to a level of reality that encourages all of us to fight just as hard for the next 50 years,” he said. 

The Clean Water Act of 1972 established the basic regulations for pollution control, wastewater standards and national criteria for water quality. Regan thinks the country and Cleveland will only get better over the next 50 years. 

“I expect Cleveland, Ohio, to continue to lead in solving some of the major challenges. Emerging contaminants or these forever chemicals, eradicating our lead pipes, putting programs in place to do that to provide good, quality, safe, affordable drinking water to every single person in this country,” he said.

He reminded people why continuing to invest in the Clean Water Act and investing in decreasing pollution are so important. 

“We have to put the resources to the solutions to ensure that we have good, safe, swimmable, fishable waters, but also have good quality drinking water,” he said.

There is still work to be done, but the last 50 years of the Clean Water Act was a major help to our nation’s environment.