Cleaning Up Their Act

One of my earliest memories as a child was jumping from rock to rock in a creek near my backyard. Cliche, yes, but true. I wonder how many others remember fishing by a river, swimming in a lake or playing in a creek as a child.

The sad truth is, memories like these may be lost for the current generation of children. Already, water pollution is a real-life threat, one which candidates often address during their campaigns and forget once in office. For all the talk of "environmental" presidents, little progress has actually been made.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 is frequently mentioned during environmental speeches as a measure of the advances our country has made in the last few decades. This summer marks a potential turning point for this monumental act, as Congress debates re-authorizing it, with various amendments.

When it was originally passed, the Clean Water Act was seen as a major step toward cleaning up our nation. Its three goals were to create a nation of "fishable and swimmable" waters by 1983, to eliminate hazardous pollutants by 1985, and to maintain and restore critical aquatic ecosystems, including wetlands and urban watersheds.

The 24 years since the act passed haven't always been memorable. Even after two major revisions, in 1977 and 1987, numerous problems still plague our nation's waterways. Statistics released by the Environmental Protection Agency revealed that, in 1990 alone, roughly 700 million pounds of hazardous pollutants were dumped into the nation's lakes, rivers and sewer systems. Today, more than a third of America's rivers, half its estuaries and half its lakes are designated unsafe for swimming or fishing.

What does this mean for the average American? Today's family can no longer without a serious risk of long-term, chronic health threats. Scientists have already proven that children born of mothers exposed to industrial chemicals like PCBs have significant cognitive deficits. Clearly the Clean Water Act has failed. The question remains, what can be done about it?

The current bid for re-authorization contains some potential amendments which would strengthen and help regulate the Clean Water Act. Congress has an obligation to see these amendments through and create an act that truly lives up to its goals.

In the House, one such measure, the Chlorine Zero Discharge Act of 1993, represents an important step toward ridding our nation's waters of hazardous chlorine-based pollutants like dioxin, which is reported to cause damage in undeveloped fetuses. The amendment bans the discharge of organochlorines, the product of chlorine-based bleaching in the manufacture of pulp and paper. Proposals like these can strengthen the Clean Water Act and help create a safer environment.

Congress needs a push. And that push can come from any source, be it lobbyists, favored constituents or Harvard students. By simply writing in, en masse, students can pressure their representatives to undertake a major overhaul of the Clean Water Act. Its speedy passage, with appropriate amendments, could mark the beginning of the end of polluted waterways.