This is potentially informative because increased taxes, sewer fees, or changes in other municipal expenditures are likely to be concentrated in the municipal authority managing the treatment plant, whereas the change in water quality is relevant for areas further downstream. The gradual effect of the grants is unsurprising since, as mentioned earlier, the EPA estimates that it took 2 to 10 years after a grant was received for construction to finish. Online Appendix TableVI shows a variety of sensitivity analyses, and Online Appendix E.2 discusses each. Data include balanced panel of cities over 19702001, see text for details. Cropper and Oates (1992) describe the Clean Water Act as the only major environmental regulation of the 1970s and 1980s that does not have health as its primary goal. Data cover 19622001. Environmental Bill: The Pros and Cons - The New York Times One is to estimate hedonic regressions excluding housing units in the same city as the wastewater treatment plant. This literature also finds that federal grants that require local matching funds and specify the grants purpose, both characteristics of the Clean Water Act grants, tend to have higher pass-through rates. The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), EPA History: Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, The official text of the CWA continues to be available in. Problem with enforcement. Effects of Clean Water Act Grants on Water Pollution: Event Study Graphs. Letting States Do the Dirty Work: State Responsibility for Federal Environmental Regulation, Transboundary Spillovers and Decentralization of Environmental Policies, Water-Quality Trends in the Nations Rivers. The share of waters that are fishable has grown by 12 percentage points since the Clean Water Act. Online Appendix TableIII shows these results and Online Appendix E.1 explains each. Hence our preferred housing estimates come from difference-in-differences regressions analyzing homes within a 25-mile radius of river segments that are downstream of treatment plants. 7 things to know about the Clean Water Act after 50 years In 1969 Ohio's Cuyahoga River was so fouled by industrial pollution that the river caught on fire. E[G_{py}d_{d}\cdot \epsilon _{dpy}|X_{pdy}^{^{\,\,\prime }},\eta _{pd},\eta _{py},\eta _{dwy}]=0. We also report unweighted estimates. First, we limit regression estimates to the set of tracts reporting home values in all four years 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. [1] It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Effects of Clean Water Act Grants on Log Mean Home Values: Event Study Graphs. Panel A shows modest evidence that in the years after a plant receives a grant, the values of homes within 0.25 mile of the downstream river increase. Data on industrial water pollution in the 1960s is less detailed, though manufacturing water intake (which is highly correlated with pollution emissions) was flat between 1964 and 1973 due to increasing internal recycling of water (Becker 2016). Row 8 equals row 1 divided by 30 times row 6. Dependent variable mean describes mean in 19621972. The historic law was designed to protect all of our waters - from the smallest streams to the mightiest rivers - from pollution and destruction. Moreover, the share of industrial water discharge that was treated by some abatement technology grew substantially in the 1960s (U.S. Census Bureau 1971). \end{equation}, \begin{equation*} Our interpretation is that once the Clean Water Act began, cities became less likely to spend municipal funds on wastewater treatment capital. Reasons We Need the Clean Water Rule | whitehouse.gov Twenty Years of the Clean Water Act: Has U.S. Water Quality Improved? This tells us little about the Clean Water Acts effects, however, since its investments may take time to affect water pollution, expanded during the 1970s, and may be effective even if not obvious from a national time series. Year-by-year trends for the other pollutants in the main analysisthe share of waters that are not swimmable, BOD, fecal coliforms, and TSSshow similar patterns (Online Appendix FigureIII). Alternatively, the most distant travelers might be marginal. We use the following regression to estimate the effects of Clean Water Act grants on water pollution: \begin{equation} This implies that pollution levels in upstream and downstream waters had similar trends before grants were received. Graphs show year fixed effects plus a constant from regressions that also control for monitoring site fixed effects, a day-of-year cubic polynomial, and an hour-of-day cubic polynomial, corresponding to equation (1) from the text. Column (3) includes all plants and grants with minimum required data (e.g., grants linked to the exact treatment plant even if without latitude or longitude data) and assumes all plants have 25 miles of rivers downstream. Related patterns have been found for air pollution, and suggest that allowing the stringency of pollution regulation to vary over space has potential to increase social welfare. Other sources note that these time series trends are consistent with aggregate crowding out (Jondrow and Levy 1984; CBO 1985). These studies ask: We also discuss trends in three other groups of water quality measures: industrial pollutants, nutrients, and general measures of water quality (Online Appendix TableIV).18 All three industrial pollutants have declined rapidly. Second, this city-level difference-in-differences estimate cannot use the upstream-downstream comparison for identification. The change in the value of housing is estimated by combining the regression estimates of TableV with the baseline value of housing and rents from the census. The Clean Water Act, passed with bipartisan support, was a historic milestone establishing a fundamental right to clean water. Table provides information about pros & cons of various water quality data submission tools, for use of tribal water quality programs under Clean Water Act Section 106 Tribal grants program. 8 Reasons the Clean Water Rule Fails to Protect People and - EcoWatch Please click here to see any active alerts. One possible channel is that wages change to reflect the improvement in amenities (Roback 1982). Panel C estimates the effect of grants on log housing units and Panel D on the log of the total value of the housing stock. The Clean Water Act fight polluted water by adopting a strategy that targets point sources of water pollution. The tablet dissolves into the liquid and releases some of the chemicals to purify the water instantly. Column (4) reweights estimates using the inverse of the estimated propensity score for inclusion in the balanced panel of cities. The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. We find large declines in most pollutants that the Clean Water Act targeted. The Clean Water Act targets industry by focusing on the chemical aspects of polluted water. These effects grow in magnitude over the first 10 years, are statistically significant in this period, and remain negative for about 30years after a grant. These estimates are even less positive than the estimates for housing. Grant costs include local and federal capital expenditures plus operating and maintenance costs over the 30-year life span for which we estimate grants affect water pollution. We calculate the present value of rental payouts as |$rentalPayout\frac{1-(1+r)^{-n}}{r}$|, where rentalPayout is the change in total annual rents due to the grants, r = 0.0785 is the interest rate, and n = 30 is the duration of the benefits in years. One involves declining returns to abatement of pollution from point sources. At the same time, much oxygen-demanding pollution comes from agriculture and other nonpoint sources, and those sources have remained largely unregulated. The Clean Water Act (CWA) contains a number of complex and interrelated elements of overall water quality management. The estimate in column (4), including homes within a 25-mile radius of downstream rivers, is small and statistically insignificant but actually negative. CBO (1985) dictates this time period because it provides the national total state and local spending data underlying this graph. For this reason, our preferred methodology in Section IV.B to assess how Clean Water Act grants affect water pollution uses a triple-difference estimator comparing upstream and downstream areas. Estimates come from regression specifications corresponding to TableV, columns (3) and (4). See Kline and Walters (2016) for a related analysis in education. A third question involves substitution. TableIV reports estimates corresponding to equation (5). A fourth question involves health. Rows 2 and 3 are aggregated from GICS microdata. All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed. Row 12 of Online Appendix TableVIII reports this specification and finds similar and if anything slightly less positive change in home values than the main results estimate, which is the opposite of what one would expect if city taxes, sewer fees, or other local costs depressed home values. WHAT'S AT STAKE? Column (4) implies that each grant increases mean home values within 25 miles of affected waters by 0.024 percentage point. If sewer fees were particularly important, then one would expect rents to increase more than home values do; if anything, the estimates of TableV suggest the opposite. Implemented in response to growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution in the U.S., the Clean Water Act followed the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, and preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973, making it part of a period of landmark . Online Appendix E.3 discusses interpretations of our housing estimates under alternative pass-through numbers. Search for other works by this author on: University of California, Berkeley and National Bureau of Economic Research. In years before a grant, the coefficients are statistically indistinguishable from zero, have modest magnitude, and have no clear trend (FigureIII). Engineering calculations in USEPA (2000c) suggest that the efficiency with which treatment plants removed pollution grew faster in the 1960s than in the 1980s or 1990s. Lack civil or criminal penalties for violations. The share of waters that are not fishable fell on average by about half a percentage point per year, and the share that are not swimmable fell at a similar rate (TableI, Panel A). The Clean Water Act of 1972 protects the "waters of the United States" from unpermitted discharges that may harm water quality for humans and aquatic life. Effects of Clean Water Act Grants on Water Pollution. Third, these grants could lead to increased city taxes, sewer fees, or other local costs that depress home values. Column (3) adds river basin year fixed effects. The largest ratios of estimated benefits to costs are for areas where outdoor fishing or swimming is common (ratio of 0.53), for high-amenity urban areas (ratio of 0.40), and in the South (ratio of 0.84). Finally, we interpret our pass-through estimates cautiously because they reflect only 198 cities, do not use upstream waters as a comparison group, and reflect pass-through of marginal changes in investment, rather than the entire Clean Water Act. Fourth, this analysis abstracts from general equilibrium changes. When we fit the change in home values, we do so both for only the balanced panel of tract-years reporting home values, and for all tract-years. Some of the pernicious substances that have been found in water supply systems across the United States include: Arsenic (declared safe for drinking water by the government at twice the levels recommended by private scientists) Uranium Mercury Lead Manganese Perchlorate - a rocket fuel additive Trichloroethylene - a degreaser used in manufacturing The last 5% of trips might account for disproportionate surplus because they represent people willing to travel great distances for recreation. This early version of the CWA left sanitation planning up to the surgeon general, and allowed the Federal Works Administration to help local and state governments with prevention and cleanup efforts. Why farmers and ranchers think the EPA Clean Water Rule goes too far - PBS Two studies report that concrete structures of treatment plants are expected to have a useful life of 50years, but mechanical and electrical components have a useful life of 1525years (USEPA 2002, 11; American Society of Civil Engineers 2011, 15). Annual cost to make a river-mile fishable, 8. Online Appendix FigureVI shows national trends in federal versus state and local spending on wastewater treatment capital over 19601983.21 State and local spending on wastewater treatment capital declined steadily from a total of |${\$}$|43 billion in 1963 to |${\$}$|22 billion in 1971 and then to |${\$}$|7 billion annually by the late 1970s. Panel B shows no evidence that homes within 25 miles of the downstream river increase after a treatment plant receives a grant. Optimizing consumers should equate the marginal disutility of pollution to the marginal cost of protection from pollution. Online Appendix FigureV shows the effect of a grant by distance downstream from a treatment plant; few data are available to estimate effects separately for each five-mile bin along the river, and estimates are correspondingly less precise. The Clean Air Act: Successes and Challenges Since 1970 Notably, almost half of this decline in state and local wastewater treatment capital spending occurred before the Clean Water Act. \end{equation}. Clean Water Act Cons. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need aNPDES permit; Industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters. It is interesting to consider possible explanations for these slowing trends. V_{py}=\gamma G_{py}+X_{py}^{^{\,\,\prime }}\beta +\eta _{p}+\eta _{wy}+\epsilon _{py}. Cost-effective regulation equates marginal abatement costs across sources, which requires regulating all sources. What are pros and cons of legalism? This predictable spatial variation in the net benefits of water quality variation suggests that allowing the stringency of regulation to vary over space may give it greater net benefits (Muller and Mendelsohn 2009; Fowlie and Muller forthcoming). Notes. The Roles of Environmental Regulation, Productivity, and Trade. This map assumes the same hedonic price function and reflects spatial heterogeneity in housing unit density.25 The map shows that the ratio of measured benefits to costs is larger in more populated counties. Dependent variable mean refers to years 19621971. Many travel demand papers use small surveys that report distance traveled to a specific lake or for a narrow region. Data include decennial census years 19702000. The cost-effectiveness estimates for fishable regressions are based on Online Appendix TableVI, row 13. Data cover decennial census years 19702000. The Clean Water Act's grantmaking system creates higher costs than market-based regulations, argue Keiser and Shapiro. Notes. Swimmable waters must have BOD below 1.5mg/L, dissolved oxygen above 83% saturation (equivalently, dissolved oxygen deficits below 17%), fecal coliforms below 200 MPN/100mL, and TSS below 10mg/L. The grants we study actually subsidize the adoption of pollution control equipment, which is a common policy that has undergone little empirical economic analysis. Municipal spending data from Annual Survey of Governments and Census of Governments. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (. TableII shows that these grants cause large and statistically significant decreases in pollution. Data and code replicating tables and figures in this article can be found in Keiser and Shapiro (2018), in the Harvard Dataverse, doi:10.7910/DVN/2JRHN6. Pros of legalism are There were much fewer crimes in china and the laws. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972. The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. This extra subsidy fell to 75% in 1984, and about 8% of projects received the subsidy for innovative technology (U.S. Government Accountability Office 1994). The Clean Water Act of 1977 was an important and controversial environmental regulation the United States Congress had passed. Q_{pdy} & =\sum _{\tau =-10}^{\tau =25}\gamma _{\tau }1[G_{p,y+\tau }=1]d_{d}+X_{pdy}^{^{\,\,\prime }}\beta +\eta _{pd}+\eta _{py}+\eta _{dwy}+\epsilon _{pdy}. Third, this analysis is different from the question of what municipal spending (and pollution and home values) would be in a world without the Clean Water Act. $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act: What you should know The estimates in TableIV are generally consistent with near complete pass-through, that is, little or no crowding out or in beyond the required municipal capital copayment. Some nutrients like ammonia and phosphorus are declining, while others like nitrates are unchanged. Surface waters, by contrast, are typically filtered through a drinking water treatment plant before people drink them. Panel B includes the local copayment, and finds pass-through rates of 0.84 to 0.93 in real terms or 1.09 in nominal terms. The 0.25- or 1.0-mile estimates are slightly larger, which is consistent with the idea that residents nearer to the river benefit more from water quality. Muehlenbachs, Spiller, and Timmins (2015) relate fracking to home values and drinking water. Agricultural Sediment Control, Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India. Each grant decreases dissolved oxygen deficits by 0.7 percentage points, and decreases the probability that downstream waters are not fishable by 0.7 percentage points. We impute these values from a panel regression of log mean home values on year fixed effects and tract fixed effects. Event study graphs corresponding to equation (4) support these results. Regressions with linear trend and trend break specifications underscore these findings, subject to the caveats mentioned earlier about the linear approximations and the long post period. Clear protections mean cleaner water. Standard errors are clustered by city. Water Pollution Control Act 1948. We did not use these data because they focus on 1990 and later, mainly measure pesticides, and have a small sample. The Clean Water Act addressed a classic externality. \end{equation}, Political Internalization of Economic Externalities and Environmental Policy, What Are Cities Worth? Flint potentially could have prevented these problems by adding corrosion inhibitors (like orthophosphate), which are used in many cities (including the Detroit water) that Flint previously used, at low cost. The Clean Water Act has protected our health for more than 40 years -- and helped our nation clean up hundreds of thousands of miles of polluted waterways. Water is a critical source that is utilized by most living things on Earth to support it ways of live. Federal spending grew to between |${\$}$|10 and |${\$}$|20 billion a year in the late 1970s. The main regression sample includes only a balanced panel of tracts that appear in all four censuses between 1970 and 2000; imputing values for missing homes hardly changes the ratio in column (4). Iowa State and Center for Agricultural Research and Development. Compared to the mean grant, grants to declining urban areas are significantly less cost-effective, whereas grants to the generally rural counties where many people go fishing or swimming are significantly more effective. Standard errors are clustered by watershed. 33 U.S.C. A second question is scope. These estimates are within a standard deviation of one, so fail to reject the hypothesis that the municipal wastewater investment exactly equals the cost listed in the grant project data.20. Summary of the Clean Water Act | US EPA Clean Water Act Pros And Cons - 1085 Words | Cram The Truth About the Safe Drinking Water Act - Off The Grid News The Pros And Cons Of Clean Water - Internet Public Library The census long form has housing data and was collected from one in six households on average, but the exact proportion sampled varies across tracts. The federal government paid 75% of the capital cost for most construction projects awarded through September 1984, and 55% thereafter; local governments paid the rest of the capital costs. In the years after a grant, downstream waters have 12% lower dissolved oxygen deficits, and become 12% less likely to violate fishing standards. What are pros and cons of the clean water act? - Answers Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 In the presence of such rents, this analysis could be interpreted as a cost-effectiveness analysis from the governments perspective. Moreover, we are not aware of any existing ex post estimates of the cost required to make a river-mile fishable or to decrease dissolved oxygen deficits.

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