Congress has declared this year, the "Year of Clean Water", primarily because this month is the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, better known as the Clean Water Act. The goal of this legislation was, and still is, restoring, maintaining, and enhancing the integrity of America's water.

The commemoration of this historic environmental legislation has been going on all month. October 18th was "National Water Monitoring Day", when volunteer and professional water monitoring organizations, students, and regular citizens tested water quality across the nation.

The culmination of the month's activities will be a conference called the World Watershed Summit which begins tomorrow in Washington DC. Co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, this meeting will bring together environmental professionals from across the globe to share their expertise on keeping the world's water clean.