Monitoring aquatic resources has been a focus of attention since 1972, with the passing of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. In 1977, it became known as the Clean Water Act. Over thirty years ago, the public became increasingly aware of the damage we were inflicting on our nation's water resources and convinced Congress to pass these laws to help regulate the discharges of pollutants in the water. Standards were set in place to control the amount of wastewater made by industrial facilities and made it illegal to discharge any pollutant into navigable waters without permission. Many revisions have been made to the original act, but the essence stayed the same. A complete updated version of this act can be found at www.epa.gov/region5/water/pdf/ecwa.pdf.