Clean Water Act

I

Introduction

Clean Water Act, federal legislation designed to reduce water pollution in the United States. The term Clean Water Act generally refers to the 1977 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, a legislative act that set up the administrative structure for regulating discharges of pollutants to U.S. waters.

II

Provisions

The Clean Water Act (CWA) sets the basic organization for regulating water pollution nationwide, including the discharge of pollutants from large industrial plants and sewage treatment facilities. Under the act, the release of all such pollutants, called point-source discharge, requires a federal permit, and the pollutants released must meet federally mandated sewage treatment standards. The CWA also establishes guidelines for reducing nonpoint pollution, the runoff of toxic matter such as fertilizer, animal waste, motor oil, and pesticides from farms, streets, and lawns into bodies of water.

The Clean Water Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responsibility for establishing and maintaining water quality standards, and the states are responsible for enforcing them. The CWA authorizes the federal government to fund sewage treatment facilities and programs to reduce water pollution, which the individual states develop and maintain. The act encourages citizens and government to sue any person or organization that violates CWA provisions.

III

Legislative History

The federal government's efforts to control water pollution in the United States began with the passage of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1890. Although this law prohibited any discharge of filth and other pollutants that would impede navigation by boats and ships, it specifically exempted waste runoff from streets and sewers.

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As the nation continued to grow and industrialize, the problem of water pollution grew along with it. Tons of untreated wastes were dumped into waterways from industries, farms, and city sewers. This waste made rivers, lakes, and harbors increasingly unsuitable for use as drinking water, for recreational activities such as swimming and boating, and as habitat for fish and other wildlife. In 1948 the Congress of the United States passed the Water Pollution Control Act in an effort to deal with the problem of waste runoff. The law originally authorized the U.S. surgeon general to organize programs aimed at reducing the discharge of pollutants into waterways.

By the late 1960s it became clear that such legislative action was not enough. Beaches across the nation were closed due to polluted waters. Severe pollution problems on some of the nation’s best-known waterways, including the Great Lakes, the Potomac River, and Boston Harbor, riveted public attention. The crisis was exemplified in 1969 by a fire on the surface of the polluted Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. A flammable mixture of industrial waste, marine engine oil, and gas caused the blaze, which damaged two railroad bridges. Publicity about the Cuyahoga fire helped galvanize public support for more stringent government action against industrial water pollution.

In 1972 the U.S. Congress passed a set of amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act. These amendments were designed to reduce the pollution in the nation’s waters through the regulation of pollutant discharges by businesses and industry. Although the term had already been widely applied to the 1972 legislation, the U.S. Congress officially adopted the name Clean Water Act in 1977, when it passed another set of amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act. This legislation added new guidelines for measuring and regulating toxic water pollutants. In 1987 the U.S. Congress reauthorized the CWA and added new provisions, simplifying the process for citizen lawsuits against polluters and providing funding for new sewage treatment facilities.

IV

Impact

The Clean Water Act remains one of the most successful pieces of environmental legislation in the history of the United States. According to the EPA, the number of U.S. rivers and lakes that are safe for fishing and swimming has risen by more than 70 percent since the early 1970s. The Great Lakes, numerous urban harbors, and even the Cuyahoga River have been revitalized.

Yet challenges and controversy surround the CWA. Some environmental groups contend that roughly one out of three rivers and lakes in the United States remains inhospitable to swimmers, native fish, and other wildlife. These organizations believe the government should take a stronger stand against nonpoint pollution and take more vigorous action to protect the nation's dwindling wetlands. On the other hand, many farmers claim that new efforts to sharply limit the use of pesticides and fertilizers or to regulate the disposal of animal waste would make it more difficult and expensive to produce the nation's food supply. In addition, many U.S. industries argue that tightening water pollution discharge standards would yield minimal improvements in water quality at an unreasonably high cost to businesses.

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