Public awareness was heightening during the 1960s about the role of nutrients in artificial aging (eutrophication) of lake waters, and other adverse effects of untreated detergents on water quality, such as billowing suds covering streams and lakes. Knowledge increased rapidly in that era, and the problems were traced to use of phosphorous in detergent products. The Indiana lzaak Walton League was the key organization in development and passage of legislation in about 1970 which banned the use of phosphorous in laundry detergents. It was the first statewide ban in the nation, and prevailed over all-out opposition from the detergent industry. Following enactment, the industry sued, with the Indiana Izaak Walton League intervening on the side of the state in defending the law. The tactics used against the law were atrocious, with industry claiming dire health effects from substitute cleaning agents, and washing machine makers claiming the substitutes would corrode their machines. The industry also claimed that phosphorous was not the culprit in encouraging excess algal growth in lakes, but nitrogen was. The League, however, obtained the scientific testimony of world-class aquatic biologists who proved the fault lay with phosphorous. Then the industry tried to persuade that tertiary sewage treatment should be the remedy, rather than eliminating the problem at the source. But all their efforts failed, and the Leaguebacked law prevailed despite millions spent to defeat it. Now, every U.S. jurisdiction draining to the Great Lakes has enacted similar bans, and many other states not in that basin have followed suit.

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