Clean Water Act and its Economic Effects

Running Head: ECONOMICS 1
Environmental Policy
Institutional Affiliation
Name
Date

ECONOMICS 2
Introduction
In this paper, the chosen environment regulation is Clean Water Act in Montreal
protocol. The Clean Water Policy of 1972 refers to the regulatory act that is based on the original
pollution of water act officiated in 1948. This act was reorganized through addressing water
pollution from the discharge points of the nation’s integrity of water (Gohari et al, 2013). Water
pollution affect swimming, fishing and other activities. The standards of quality water were
established in order to bring about effluent limits, quality and degradation of habitats.
Elements of Clean Water Act
There are various elements of the clean water Act advocated by the government in
existence. These include;
Promoting of environmental strategies, control mechanism and application of economic
instruments to protect sources of water.
To form basic national programs of water management in order to protect ecology,
quality of life and water supply.
Furthermore, the clean water act streamlines the procedures of control, prevention and
pollution abatement about the city’s or nation’s water resources (Van Leeuwen et al, 2012).
Economic effects (Benefit –Cost evaluation) of the Regulation
There is emergence of investments in order to improve sanitation, hygiene and systems of
water resource management. This therefore improves on the nation’s economy since a single
dollar which is invested yields $8 in benefits. The regulation helps in achieving the Millennium

ECONOMICS 3
Development Goals (water and sanitation) can be achieved and thus improving on the annual
investments of the country (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2015).
In addition, the human lives’ values have been saved as well as health care saving and
productivity of the economy. To establish the frameworks of the water quality management
through efficient delegation and proper coordination of activities in the policy formulation. In
addition, the major element of the Clean Water Act encourages ‘self-regulation’ among the
industries and citizens of the country.
When the Clean Water Act or regulation is efficiently put in place, different classes of
beneficiaries are involved. The citizens of the country more especially in cities benefit through
taking safe drinking water which improves on their lives (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2015).
Most significant is that, the regulation helps, the government through implementation of other
related quality water programs, eradication of poor exposures especially from manufacturing
industries which emit fumes to the water bodies.
Although the policy of Clean Water Act has been intentioned well, several studies made
it clear that it is the initiation of the public policy making flaw. The failure of the implementation
of the regulatory body sometimes is attributed from the political chaos, this in turn makes the
citizens of the country to suffer from the negative side of water sources (World Water Council,
2015). Another critic of the control policy is that, the Clean Water Act mostly based on the
control neglecting the ideology of prevention. The federal Act would have focused on putting
more effects in preventing endangering water sources than controlling what has already
happened.