Clean+Water+Act

Clean Water Act

The "Federal Water Pollution Control Act" was established in 1948 to protect the water resources around the nation from pollution. In 1972, the act was renamed to The Clean Water Act. This law made it illegal to throw any form of pollution into waters that are used for navigation purposes unless a permit was made. The role of the EPA in this act was to establish pollution control plans for point sources such as pipes and man-made ditches. The EPA also set water quality standards ("Clean" 2001).

The National Polluntant Discharge Elimination System made it so that permits have to be issued. Such permits are issued to industrial, municipal, and other facilities whose discharges go directly to surface waters. A permit must be obtained to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable water.The water pollution laws dating back to 1899 were readdressed in a 1972 amendment that placed limitations on industrial discharges and producing water quality standards for the first time. The main goal of the act was to protect the fish, shellfish, wildlife, and people from the surface waters including lakes, rivers, and streams by 1983, along with seeking to end the discharging of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985. Navigable waters are the waters that are deep and wide enough for the passing of ships ("Clean" 2001).

The Clean Water Act changed the many statistics about water around the United State for the better. In 1972, thirty three percent of the nation's water was safe for fishing and swimming. Later in 1999, the amount doubled to sixty six percent. In 1972, the annual wetland losses reached a total of 460,000 acres. But, in 1999, improvement came when the losses were decreased to a total of 80,000 acres. The list continues with the annual amount of soil eroded due to agricultural runoff changing from 2.25 billion tons to 1.25 billion tons. Also, in 1972, only 85 million people were served by sewage treatment plants. In 1999, 173 million people were served by these sewage treatment plants. Last of all, in 1986 the federal government increased the strength of state management programs for nonpoint pollution. Nonpoint pollution is pollution that is spread out, and cannot be traced to a specific source. Some examples of nonpoint pollution are agriculture, mining, urban runoff, construction, and sewage disposal ("Clean" 2001).

For additional information go to: http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/cwa.html 4.9 Environmental Laws pd3 Home