Congress passes the Safe Drinking Water Act, creating the first federal framework for drinking water standards

President Ford signed the Safe Drinking Water Act on December 16, 1974, requiring EPA to set maximum contaminant levels for public drinking water systems. The law covered any public system serving 25 or more people year-round and directed EPA to prioritize contaminants posing the greatest public health risk. The 1996 amendments strengthened the law by requiring EPA to identify five new contaminants for potential regulation every five years and mandating cost-benefit analysis for new standards. PFAS would not appear on the contaminant candidate list until 2009, 35 years after SDWA passed.