As a result of data collection there have been many laws enacted to protect people and their health. Some of these laws are listed below:

Clean Air Act: The 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) is the most recent version of a law first passed in 1970. The 1990 CAA amendments in large part were intended to meet unaddressed or insufficiently addressed problems such as acid rain, criteria air pollutants including ground-level ozone, hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)—also known as air toxics—and stratospheric ozone depletion. HAPs are those pollutants known or suspected to cause cancer and other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects and birth defects. Examples of six primary pollutants includes particulate matter, ozone (smog), CO, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and lead. (Click here for more information on air pollutants.)

Safe Drinking Water Act: Congress originally passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974 to protect the public by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and includes many requirements to protect drinking water and its sources, such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and groundwater wells. SDWA does not regulate private wells that serve fewer than 25 persons.

Clean Water Act: First enacted in 1972 and updated by many other laws in the years since, the Clean Water Act includes a wide range of provisions to reduce surface water pollution. To reduce or eliminate contamination of water supplies, substances controlled by the Clean Water Act must be monitored and tracked.