Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2018 - 4

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Straight

TALK
by John A. Arway

Executive Director
Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission

Time to Celebrate...or Not?
In 1968, water pollution was causing the annual loss of $3
million to the fishing industry of the Chesapeake Bay. In 1969,
over 41 million fish were reported being killed by pollution in
the nation's waters. That same year, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio
caught on fire. In 1970, 30 percent of the samples tested from our
nation's drinking water supplies were found to contain chemicals
that exceeded public health protection limits. In 1971, 87 percent
of Swordfish samples had mercury levels that were unfit for
human consumption. In 1972, 2/3 of our nation's waters were
unsafe for fishing or swimming (PBS 2002). Our nation was in a
water pollution crisis, and something had to be done.
I often say that we have more waters to fish today than when
I was a child. I have been extremely fortunate to have been part
of a generation that has contributed to improving the quality
of Penns Waters and the health of our fisheries. I have been
privileged to work closely with the likes of Ralph Abele, Bob
Ging, Pete Duncan, John Childe, Dennis Guise, Bud Byron, Ken
Sink, Paul Swanson, Ed Bellis and so many other champions for
our public natural resources-the white hats. These are men of
high integrity and conviction. Our story is part of the larger story
of successes that can be told from across our nation because of
the priorities our society has given to controlling water pollution.
I believe that there is one single action, a turning point so-tospeak, that is responsible for moving society from an age of
pollution to an age of restoration.
Although it began as the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (FWPCA) in 1948, it was completely revised by the 92nd
Congress in a series of amendments in 1972. The 1972 act was
vetoed by President Richard Nixon on October 17, 1972, which
was overridden by the Senate and House and became law on
October 18, 2017. The 1972 act was a commitment to restore
and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity
of the nation's waters. It called for zero discharge of pollutants
into navigable waters by 1985 and having all waters fishable and
swimmable by 1983.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination
with the states, is responsible for the administration of the Act
and implementation of its intent through regulations contained
in 40 Code of Federal Regulations. While the Act has been
further amended over time to include the Clean Water Act of

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * January/February 2018

Marcellus Shale drilling releases trapped acid mine drainage into
Semiconon Run, Butler County.

1977 and the Water Quality Act of 1987, I believe that the 1972
amendments are the primary reason for the progress we have
made in the treatment of point and non-point source pollution.
There is little doubt that the enforcement of the provisions of
the 1972 Act has produced the improvements that we have
seen in the water quality of Pennsylvania's 86,000 miles of
streams and rivers, over 4,000 lakes and reservoirs and the
waters of the United States including the territorial seas.
One of the most important tenets of the 1972 Act was
when Congress required the states to implement a permitting
system to effectively control pollution. The National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit required
industry (manufacturing, mining, oil and gas extraction,
etc.), government (sewage treatment plants and Pennsylvania
Fish & Boat Commission hatcheries) and some agricultural
facilities (animal feedlots) to obtain a permit for point source
discharges into waters of the United States. Additionally, the
1972 Act prescribed specific methods about how to control
point source pollution. Certain industries were required to use
technology-based standards that are based on the available
methods to reduce pollution at a reasonable cost (Best
Available Technology). However, despite the requirement of
technology-based standards, Congress re-emphasized that
one cannot impact the public's use of a receiving waterbody
and reaffirmed previous acts that included a water qualitybased regulatory approach. The two primary protected uses
are water supply and aquatic life. The regulatory approach
included the development of water quality standards including
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2018