The Committee on Water Pollution was created by Chapter 264, Laws of 1927, as an interdepartmental agency composed of representatives of the state's Public Service Commission and the Conservation Commission, as well as the State Health Officer and the State Sanitary Engineer. Its powers were strengthened by the legislature in 1949. For administrative purposes, the committee was attached to the State Board of Health, first through its Bureau of Sanitary Engineering and later through its Division of Water Pollution Control. The State Sanitary Engineer served as its executive secretary. The committee was responsible for enforcing and administering laws governing the control of pollution of the state's surface waters, primarily focusing on pollution from the pulp and paper, canning, and dairy processing industries. It also made detailed studies of the conditions in particular streams and rivers and conducted research on sewage treatment plants and industrial waste. A subcommittee on aquatic nuisance control regulated the chemicals used on recreational lakes to control algae and aquatic weeds. The Water Resources Act, Chapter 614, of the Laws of 1965 expanded the state's role in the area of water resources management, abolished the committee (effective August 1966), and transferred its functions to the Department of Resource Development. Under the 1967 governmental reorganization act these functions were transferred to the new Water Resources Council, attached to the Department of Natural Resources.
