An overview of the Clean Water Act. Overview statutes and regulations as well as history.

1. The Clean Water Act
by Paula K. Worden
for Education 6305 Summer 2010

2. What is the Clean Water Act (CWA)?

3. The CWA is
the primary
federal law
governing
water quality
in the US

4. Goal of the CWA is to eliminate
the release of highly toxic substances
into America's waterways

5. = Eliminating Water Pollution

6. So What Does the CWA Cover?

7. All waters with a
"significant
nexus"
to "navigable
waters"

8. What does that mean?

9. Case Law Says
waters of the United States,
including the territorial seas

10. What does that mean?

11. Intermittent Streams
a stream that
only flows
for part of the
year

12. Playa
a desert basin
with no outlet
which
periodically fills
with water to
form a
temporary lake

13. Lakes

14. Prairie Potholes
a small
wetland that
can be
found in the
grasslands
of central
North
America

15. Sloughs
A slough is a low-lying area of land that
channels water through the Everglades

16. Wetlands
A wetland is an area of land in which soil is saturated
with moisture either permanently or seasonally

17. Streams & Rivers

18. Oceans

19. So the CWA covers just about
anything with water.
What kind of pollution does it regulate?

20. Point Sources
Pollution that
can be traced
to a definitive
source

21. Like What?
Industries & Manufacturing

22. Mining
Acid Mine Drainage

23. Oil & Gas Extraction

24. Agricultural Runoff

25. The CWA Also Covers
Nonpoint Sources
Nonpoint sources of pollution are toxic
substances and the origin is almost
impossible to trace

26. Like What?
Stormwater
Runoff

27. Municipal Wastewater

28. How does the CWA
protect against pollution?

29. Through permits
& water quality standards

30. What are Water Quality Standards?
Rules set by states (approved by EPA)
that determine the levels of pollution that
go into bodies of water
(sewage, stormwater, etc.)

31. How do states determine how much
pollution a body of water can take?

32. Each stream has a designated usage
Like
Recreation

33. Water Supply

34. Aquatic Life

35. Agriculture

36. What happens if a body of water
does not meet
Water Quality Standards?

37. What happens if a body of water
does not meet
Water Quality Standards?
Placed on the 303(d) list

38. What happens if a body of water
does not meet
Water Quality Standards?
Placed on the 303(d) list
TMD
L

39. 303(d) List
the section of law covering bodies of water that do
not meet Water Quality Standards

40. What is a TMDL?
= Total Maximum Daily Load
The equation that says how much
pollution can go into a stream everyday

41. So Why does the US have a
Clean Water Act?

42. =A series of
environmental
disasters in the
late 60’s
and early 70’s

43. In 1969, bacteria levels in the Hudson
River were at 170 times the safe limit

44. The FDA
reported in
February 1971
that 87 percent
of swordfish
samples had
mercury at
levels that were
unfit for human
consumption.

45. Cuyahoga River Catches Fire
Near Cleveland, OH, a floating oil slick burst into flames

46. 1969 Lake Thonotosassa Fish Kill
26 million killed in Lake Thonotosassa, FL,
due to discharges from four food processing plants

47. By 1972 two-thirds of the country's lakes, rivers and
coastal waters had become unsafe for fishing or
swimming. Untreated sewage
was being dumped into open water.

48. Does the Clean Water Act Work?
Even after 30 years of
regulation, water
pollution is still a big
problem in the U.S.
Today, 39% of the
rivers, 45% of the
lakes, and 51% of the
estuaries monitored
are contaminated

49. Clean Water Successes?
In 1997, (The 25th Anniversary of the CWA) more
than 60 percent of the nation's waters now support
fishing and other uses, and while the U.S. population
grew considerably since 1972, modern wastewater
treatment facilities helped pollutant levels in the
nation's waters fall 36 percent.

50. But we still have a long way to go!

51. References:
1. How Did the Clean Water Act Get Started http://drake.marin.k12.ca.
us/stuwork/rockwater/The%20Clean%20Water%20Act/History%20and%20stories.html
2. Wikipedia. The Clean Water Act. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act
3. NOW with Bill Moyers. A Brief History of the Clean Water Act.
http://www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.html
4. Wikipedia. Mountain Top Removal. http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining
5. Wikipedia. Intermittent Stream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream
6. Wikipedia. Playa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playa
7. US Forest Service. Wetlands Non-Tidal Marshes: Prairie Pothole
http://www.fws.gov/r5mnwr/lotw/wl-pothole.html
8. Wikiapedia. Wetlands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland