This introduction discusses the impetus for the creation of this research. The year 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the Water Quality Act, the longest-lived example of federal water pollution policy. The introduction presents a discussion of the major themes of the book, including federalism, states' rights, state choice in water quality policy, and the importance of implementation in policy outcomes. an outline of the content of the chapters is also presented.

The congressional framers of the Water Quality act of 1987 laid out specific expectation for the uses for federal funds authorized in the legislation, as well as expectations regarding the kinds of communities that would be served by the infrastructure program in the legislation. This chapter discusses the larger question of water pollution control, including challenges to effective pollution control policies. In addition, the chapter introduces the underlying research questions for the research, and explains why water pollution control policy is worthy of government attention. The chapter also makes a case for why the WQA is particularly interesting in this regard, and provides a brief description of the block grant program that provides funds for water quality infrastructure, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program. Finally, the chapter discusses the tensions between environmental and financial goals that are inherent in the revolving loan fund policy instrument.