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0 pointsmaxerickson11y ago0 comments

Point 3 is confusing to me. In the U.S., government regulation of water quality got a lot stronger in the 1970s:

http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act

http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/index.cfm

Between that, advances in technology and the wider deployment of municipal water supplies, U.S. tap water is probably as clean and safe as it has ever been, at least since the beginning of the industrial era.

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smacktoward11y ago

I'm referring to public perception, not facts.

The environmental wave that was symbolized by the first Earth Day resulted in lots of environmental policy improvements in the US by the end of the '70s. But by the time those policy improvements happened, public sentiment had turned away from collective action towards private, market-based action.

Remember, laws lag public opinion, they don't lead it. So the laws that pass today are responses to public opinion as it stood at some point in the past.

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