Laws+Regarding+Water+Pollution

 Non-point and Point Source Pollution: Laws and Programs Local, state, and federal laws have been created and put into practice to slow and eliminate negative environmental health impacts. The federal Clean Water Act works to enforce pollution laws. Section 319 specifically deals with laws regarding non-point source pollution in rivers. Non-point source pollution is indirect pollution by way of storm water running across land or groundwater picking up pollutants and then that soiled water entering larger bodies of water. In Pennsylvania, the three top contributors to non-point source pollution are agriculture, abandoned mine drainage, and urban runoff. This law also affects our region and our local watershed. The Clean Water Act obliges all states to form a non-point source pollution plan and enforce it statewide. Pennsylvania has received $72 million dollars in grant money from the Section 319 Grant Program. Our state has begun its efforts by creating various technologies to treat non-point source pollution and prevent it. Other environmental organizations have also donated money to educate the public and teach them how to prevent the pollution. One specific project was to donate money ($850,000) to farmers for agricultural projects designed to reduce runoff ("Clean," 2008).



Point source pollution is the direct input of pollutants into the water, through pipes from a sewage plant, for example. Pennsylvania and the entire US is working to eliminate causes of point source pollution. Pollution in the water damages habitats and kills organisms. If nothing is done, entire species could become extinct ("Clean," 2008).

The photo on this page is of Buyat Bay, Indonesia. It is a global example of point source pollution. A U.S. mining company was charged with pumping tons of mercury into the water. Though the company claims that there are no health risks as a result and that everything they did was within the country's environmental laws, a lawsuit resulted. Mercury dumped into water will obviously have some affect on the species living there (Ibrahim 2004).

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