Water Quality

  National Overview

Because the focus of the CWA has been point source pollution, it is important to briefly examine the current water quality conditions of the Illinois River and the effectiveness of addressing point source pollution. First, on a national level, President Clinton notes in 1998, that since passage of the CWA in 1972,

the number of waters considered safe for fishing and swimming has doubled, industrial discharges have been reduced by billions of pounds per year, the number of Americans served by adequate sewage treatment has more than doubled, annual wetland losses have been reduced by about 75 percent, and soil erosion on croplands has been cut by more than a third (Environmental Careers Organization 2003).

Further evidence of progress comes from the USEPA which reports in 1995 that only 8% of municipal wastewater dischargers and 6% of non-municipal dischargers are in “significant” non-compliance with federal requirements. Looking at the most widely used measure of municipal pollution, the extent to which the organic content of the waste depletes oxygen in the receiving water, between 1972 and 1982, states found that the amount of oxygen-demanding pollutants entering the nation’s wastewater plants grew by 12%. During the same period, the amount released by these plants into waterways drops by 46%. If treatment capabilities had not improved at a faster rate than the nation’s population and pollution outputs were growing, it is estimated that 1982 discharges would have been 191% greater than what was actually discharged. Obviously, regulations regarding municipal wastes and technological advancements are effective in reducing pollution entering the nation’s waterways.

Despite these improvements, 40% of the nation’s surveyed waterways are still too polluted for fishing and swimming. Nearly 2,200 health advisories are issued in 1996 warning against the consumption of contaminated fish. Excess runoff of pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorous contributes to algal blooms and outbreak of harmful organisms such as Pfisteria. Having reduced the most evident forms of water pollution, there are less visible but no less serious problems to address.