Before a bipartisan Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, cities pumped raw sewage into lakes, mining companies discharged acid waste into streams, and factories poured chemicals into rivers, which occasionally caught on fire. The Clean Water Act made such pollution illegal and expanded the federal government's authority to regulate waterways across the country.
But if you haven't gotten around to perusing the bill's 112,000 words, you might not know that it doesn't clarify which waterways federal agencies have the power to protect. Can factories dump waste into seasonal streams without the Environmental Protection Agency's oversight? Wetlands? Ponds? The Clean Water Act doesn't provide clean answers; it merely tasks the federal government with keeping toxic chemicals and other pollutants out of "navigable waters," which it defines as "waters of the United States, including the territorial seas."
