Safe Drinking Water/Clean Water Act

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The Clean Water Act (CWA) was the first main law enacted to prevent water pollution in the United States. Before this act was adopted around 60% of all the water in the U.S. was considerable not fishable and swimmable. In fact, three years before the CWA passed the Cuyahoga river in Cleveland was so polluted that it caught on fire. The main goals of the CWA were to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. 

 The CWA made things a lot better for the U.S. and now a majority of water in the United States is safe to swim, drink and fish out of. This is extremely important to me because I grew up swimming in the ocean and lakes. I could not imagine a world in which I was unable to do those activities. Also, water activities are huge pass times for Americans and life would not be the same here without clean water. We also live in a developed nation and we probably would not be as successful as a nation without clean water. I'm glad I live in a country where I don't want to worry about whether or not it is okay to use sink water when I brush my teeth. 

 In terms of safe drinking water I think it is absolutely vital for a country to provide clean water for its residents. Clean water should come first before anything else. A majority of people in the US are not able to afford to buy filtered water so they will be getting all of their drinking water from the sink. Without safe drinking water we would have a huge amount excess deaths and people getting sick from the water. 

Comments

  1. Jordan DemosSeptember 26, 2018 at 6:58 PM

    Hi Caitlin,

    This is a prime example that people and companies will do whatever is cheapest and most convenient without caring for any consequences. Places like Cleveland and many others were severely polluted because there was no punishment for these companies who dump waste into the waters. The Clean Water Act turned that all around and has since proven to help keep waters clean within the US.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 30, 2018 at 6:15 PM

    Hi Caitlin,

    I can't imagine a world either where our water ways and natural bodies of water were polluted. It shows that legislation can play a positive role in making change. But it is still so dependent on factors like where you live, income level, etc. and I know I forget sometimes. When I've traveled abroad, I appreciate clean water so much more because I'm reminded of how precious and scarce of a resource it is.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 6, 2018 at 8:38 AM

    Hi Caitlin,
    Can you imagine 60% of water being contaminated? I wonder if that is true around the world still. I remember when I went to India in 2015, there were so many neighborhood where they don't have proper working water facilities. But then again, there, water is dredged from the wells and folks live on organic goods.

    With all the industrial waste in United State, water contamination is eminent, it is fortunate that people from the past recognized the importance of clean water and reenacted the CWA

    ReplyDelete

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