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In 1987, the Florida legislature passed, and Governor Robert Martinez signed, a statute called the Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Act. The legislation forced Floridians to recognize water—high-quality, clean water—as a valuable resource and not as something to be wasted. Surface water was seen as critical to the economy of the state and to the way of life of residents and visitors. Passage of the SWIM Act ended nearly 170 years of efforts in Florida to dry up and reclaim what had been considered worthless swamp through ditching, diking, paving, and channelizing.

On June 30, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Water Pollution Control Act (WPCA; known after 1977 as the Clean Water Act). The act addressed the nation’s water-quality problems by attempting to establish a cooperative relationship between the federal and state governments. It resulted from decades of debate over the appropriate role of the national government in what was long considered a state concern. Amended several times by Congress, the 1948 legislation was the model for future federal clean-water statutes.

The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) was organized in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1969. The history of GASP as a citizens’ organization began with state and county public hearings regarding proposed statewide ambient air-quality standards in accordance with the federal Air Quality Act of 1967. It became clear to many citizens who testified at the hearings that effective changes in Pittsburgh’s air quality would occur only with an actively involved public.

Water pollution control is a multidisciplinary field that endeavors to reduce or eliminate the discharge of chemical and biological compounds into natural waterways. Legal standards set a level playing field so that the economic burdens and opportunities fall with approximate equality for all enterprises, industries, and municipalities.

Environmental engineering is considered a subset of civil engineering. Environmental engineering and consultation services design, plan, assess, or perform engineering duties and gather information on the environmental consequences of proposed actions, in order to prevent, control, and remediate environmental hazards. Environmental engineers provide communities and policy makers with project management, permit acquisition, and other specialized environmental technology and services. Environmental consultants help businesses and municipalities prepare environmental impact statements and otherwise comply with environmental regulations. Environmental engineering is equivalent to sanitary engineering and is also called environmental health engineering or public health engineering.

In 1965, Governor James A. Rhodes of Ohio requested an interstate enforcement conference for representatives of all the states within the Lake Erie watershed (Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) and the federal government. Lake Erie had become so polluted that public indignation over its condition had reached Rhodes at the statehouse. A Cleveland automobile dealer named David Blaushild had instituted a petition campaign called Save Lake Erie that resulted in more than one million signatures. In April, 1965, Blaushild turned the petitions over to Governor Rhodes. In turn, Rhodes sent them to John W. Gardner, U.S. secretary of health, education, and welfare (HEW), with a request for the interstate enforcement conference. The conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio, in August, 1965.

Pollution control involves reducing or eliminating pollutants from the air, water, or soil. Pollutants are contaminants, which are usually human-made, that can harm the environment. Polluted resources are damaged, dirty, or otherwise unusable. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by the US government to help manage pollution and to guide the nation toward a greener future.