Los Angeles Times

Editorial: 50 years later, the Clean Water Act is under assault

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta near the town of Rio Vista.

President Richard Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act in 1972. But Congress overrode him on a bipartisan vote, and the landmark law to reverse the toxic degradation of U.S. rivers, lakes and streams took effect half a century ago today.

The law was inspired in part by the notorious 1969 Cuyahoga River fire in Ohio, in which the river itself, laden with oil and

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