Water Quality Regulation

UNITED STATES WATER QUALITY LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS

Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) was passed. This act and its various amendments are often referred to as the Clean Water Act (CWA). It provided loans for treatment plant construction and temporary authority for federal control of interstate water pollution.

The enforcement powers were so heavily dependent on the states as to make the act almost unworkable. In 1956, several amendments to the FWPCA were passed that made federal enforcement procedures less cumbersome. The provision for state consent was removed by amendments passed in 1961, which also extended federal authority to include navigable waters in the United States.

In 1965 the Water Quality Act established a new trend in water pollution control. It provided that the states set water quality standards in accordance with federal guidelines. If the states failed to do so, the standards would be set by the federal government subject to a review hearing. In 1966, the Clean Water Restoration Act transferred the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to the Department of the Interior. It also gave the Interior Department the responsibility for the Oil Pollution Act.

After the creation of EPA in 1970, the EPA was given the responsibility previously held by the Department of the Interior with respect to water pollution control. In subsequent amendments to the FWPCA in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977, additional Federal programs were established. The goals of these programs were to make waterways of the United States fishable and swimmable by 1983 and to achieve zero discharge of pollutants by 1985. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) was established as the basic regulatory mechanism for water pollution control. Under this program, the states were given the authority to issue permits to “pointsource” dischargers provided the dischargers gave assurance that the following standards would be met:

1. Source-specific effluent limitations (including New Source Performance Standards)


2. Toxic pollutant regulations (for specific substances regardless of source)


3. Regulations applicable to oil and hazardous substance liability In order to achieve that stated water-quality goal of fishable and swimmable waters by 1983, each state was required by EPA to adopt water-quality standards that met or exceeded the Federal water quality criteria. After each state submitted its own water-quality standards, which were subsequently approved by EPA, the Federal criteria were removed from the Code of Federal Regulations.

The state water quality standards are used as the basis for establishing both point source-based effluent limitations and toxic pollutant limitations used in issuing NPDES permits to point-source discharges.
Source-Based Effluent Limitations Under the FWPCA, EPA was responsible for establishing point-source effluent limitations for municipal dischargers, industrial dischargers, industrial users of municipal treatment works, and effluent limitations for toxic substances (Applicable to all dischargers).