ABSTRACT
The public, environmentalists, and legislators came to the realization in the early 1970s that our water resources were in critical condition and needed the protection offered by regulation. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 came about when federal legislators became aware of the sad condition of many local drinking water supplies, and the reluctance of local and state officials to remove pollutants from their wastewater. The Act set national drinking water standards called maximum contaminant levels for pollutants that might adversely affect public health and welfare. In 1972, Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly called the Clean Water Act (CWA). CWA stems originally from a much-amended 1948 law, which helped communities to build sewage treatment plants. Cholera bacterium also lives in brackish river and coastal waters. Treatment of drinking water to remove contaminants is one of the oldest forms of public health protection.
