352 



in conference, the differences in Senate and House versions were re- 

 solved somewhat in favor of the House. Then by voice vote the bill 

 was passed by the House, June 18, and the Senate, June 19 ; it received 

 Presidential approval June 30 as Public Law 80-845. 



As passed, the measure provided a wide authority for planning- and 

 assistance to States and municipalities in planning for pollution con- 

 trol, including research into industrial waste disposal, facility desi.gn, 

 watershed plans, promotion of interstate cooperation in maximizing 

 all socially valuable uses of water, and adjustment of interstate dis- 

 putes. It authorized construction of a research center. All these activi- 

 ties were to be supported by $5 million in expenditures and $22.5 mil- 

 lion in lending authority annuallv, under the joint administration of 

 PHS and FWA. 



III. Gradual Evolution of Comprehensi\^ Pollution Control 



Abatement of pollution by Government stimulation went slowly in 

 the 8-year interval between 1948, when the first experimental act be- 

 came effective, and 1956, when the first permanent w\ater pollution 

 control measure was passed. This interval was one of maneuver and 

 tentative efforts at control, and countervailing efforts of those resisting 

 control. Funds appropriated to implement the PHS authorization to 

 regulate pollution were a limiting factor. The commitment of Presi- 

 dent Eisenhower's Administration to the revitalization of the author- 

 ity of the State Governments, and the encouragement of a climate 

 favorable to private enterprise, tended to blunt these first tentative 

 efforts at regulation. 



After 1948, attention of supporters of water pollution control was 

 directed toward the activities of the PHS ; Federal efforts were ex- 

 panded cautiously and not until September 29, 1960, was the first en- 

 forcement suit actually filed.^® Some administrative and research prog- 

 ress was accomplished during these early years. After FWA was 

 phased out in 1950, the PHS received oversight responsibility for 

 construction. The Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center was 

 constructed in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1952. iPlans were contributed by 

 PHS to various river basin commissions for river pollution abatement 

 under interstate compacts. PHS also created a consultative organ on 

 industrial pollution — the National Technical Task Committee on In- 

 dustrial Wastes. 



Nevertheless, funds appropriated were insufficient to meet the tasks 

 outlined in the act. Before extension of the act in 1953, President 

 Truman included budget requests only in 1950 and 1951 for grants and 

 loans authorized under the act. None of the $22.5 million authorized 

 for extension of loans for construction of abatement works was spent. 



National assessment of loater needs and resources 



An analysis of the Nation's water pollution problem was completed 

 in 1950 by the President's Water Resources Policy Commission. Re- 

 porting that "Our major streams are gravely affected and the problem 



B8 "Fedoral Water Pollution Enforcement Actions." In U.S. Department of the Interior. 

 Federal Water Pollution Control Administration. Program of the Federal Water Pollution 

 Control Adminif5tration. Prepared by Office of Program Plans and Development. Federal 

 Water Pollution Control Administration. July 1967. (Washington, U.S. Department of 

 the Interior, 1967), p. 24. 



