ABSTRACT
The effort to regulate drinking water and wastewater effluent has increased since the early 1900s. Beginning with an effort to control the discharge of wastewater into the environment, preliminary regulatory efforts focused on protecting public health. The goal of this early wastewater treatment program was to remove suspended and floatable material, treat biodegradable organics, and eliminate pathogenic organisms. Thus, regulatory efforts were directed toward constructing wastewater treatment plants in an effort to alleviate the problem. But a problem soon developed: progress. Progress in the sense that time marched on and with it so did proliferation of city growth in the United States, where it became increasingly difficult to find land required for wastewater treatment and disposal. Wastewater professionals soon recognized the need to develop methods of treatment that would accelerate nature’s purification of water under controlled conditions in treatment facilities of comparatively smaller size. Regulatory influence on water quality improvements in both wastewater and drinking water took a giant step forward in the 1970s. The Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Clean Water Act) established national water pollution control goals. At about the same time, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) passed by Congress in 1974 was designed to maintain and protect the public drinking water supply.
