Clean Water Act at 50: Celebrating the golden anniversary of the blue policy

Abstract

Both the U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) trace back to 1972. The journal has a strong history of publishing science in support of the CWA, from basic science used to develop best management practices to address water quality problems to special sections on hot issues of the day and publishing long-term data that provide evidence of success. The objective of this article is to provide a brief overview of how JEQ has provided a publication outlet for researchers involved in efforts focused on key CWA issues and to introduce a special section celebrating the golden anniversary of this blue policy. The special section includes papers that look back historically on biosolids research that began with the advent of the CWA as well as a forward-looking paper encouraging readers to think about the implications of the ubiquitous use of lithium-ion batteries and a call to action before tangible problems are realized.