The Importance Of Water Pollution In The United States

Water pollution was not a big concern to most Americans in the early ninth century, it was not until nineteen sixty nine when the Cuyahoga river caught fire. Along the Cuyahoga river banks, it is filled with industrial factories and steel mills. Cuyahoga River has been abused by man, by his dumping of toxic waste into the river, where it floats down south and into Lake Erie. On the morning of June twenty second nineteen sixty nine, when a passing rail car was crossing over a suspended bridge over the Cuyahoga river. Hurling a spark off the bridge and landed onto the sewage and oil soaked water. Fighting the fire only took fire fighters thirty minutes to extinguish and caused fifty thousand dollars in damages. Minimal was the outcome to the …show more content…
Jim Oberstar and his boss congressman Jack Blanknik wanted to make a bold statement, setting the standard on what became the Clean Water Act. Goals were set in place to restore and maintain the chemical and physical biological integrity of the nation's waters. From here the laws offered a tougher enforcement program, massive investments into waste water treatment, and rules to address the effects of phosphates and nitrogen used by growing chemical factories. United States Congress and the United States Senate realized the needs for regulation of water in the United States were great, and the challenges are overwhelming. Unfortunately, the reality was all the water there was, and all the water there ever will be on earth was on this planet. Although President Nixon vetoed the Water Act, Congress swept aside his veto decisively. Nixon's veto was overridden by a ten to one margin. The Constitution states that two third majority is the minimum to override a president’s veto. Support was overwhelming for the clean water. After the bill was passed for the first few years the Clean Water Act was successful. Of course the federal government reduced its financial commitment, giving the burden to protect water to State and local authorities. Most States like the State of California passed even stricter laws regulating the dumping of chemicals into fresh water, and introduced massive investments into waste treatment plants. Changing the way commercial, industrial, and …show more content…
Just in America alone consumers have the biggest foot print for the most water used. If you look at the state of Nevada, one of its largest cities is Las Vegas. Populations of almost two million people; use approximately three percent of the State of Nevada’s water supply each year. The mighty Colorado River that runs through the state of Nevada is Las Vegas main water supply. In the early nineteen hundreds this river flooded its banks, and for two years poured into the salted sink forming an inland sea. When the spring flood was over, this river dried up to a stream, causing farmers to abandon farms and livestalk. In nineteen thirty President Hover who the Hoover dam is named after, signed a bill to start construction on Hover dam. Damming would help regulate the flow of water to farms, and livestalk downstream all year. Flow would also control how high Lake Mead gets without overflowing, and supply the necessary water and electricity for the State of Nevada and southern California. When this dam was completed Lake Mead was at full capacity. Curranty with consumption of so much water between Nevada and California, Lake Mead is only at forty percent and studies have shown that if Mother Nature does not replenish the amount of water that is being used it will be too