Water Quality
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People have always dumped wastes into lakes, rivers, and estuaries.
Why? It is easier than land-based waste disposal. The large volumes
of water dilute fowl or dangerous substances. And, in rivers,
currents carry away garbage, chemicals, sewage, eroded soil--
everything just washes downstream.
This was not really a problem when the number of people in
the U.S. was small. The waste generated by just a few settlers
could be quickly diluted by a large river. However, like many
environmental dilemmas, problems with water quality started
to mount when the nation's population started to take off, an
event that also coincided with a period of rapid industrialization.
Water quality problems came as a result of exceeding the capacity of
lakes and rivers to absorb and dilute pollutants. A body of
water can take only so much pollution before reaching ecological
melt-down. And we can no longer rely on currents to wash away
the problem. There are cities, towns, wetlands, estuaries, and
oceans downstream which are all affected by what is put in a
river up-stream.
By the late 1960s, America's waterways were in a terrible state.
The Great Lakes lay dieing. The Cuyahoga River actually caught
on fire from pollution. The Hudson, the Potomac, and countless
other rivers were simply filthy. People demanded change. The Clean
Water Act rode in on a tide of environmental legislation in the early
1970s.
To a large degree, the Clean Water Act has been successful in
cleaning up U.S. water bodies. Many rivers and lakes are recovering.
But in some ways, water quality protection still has a long way to
go. In order to understand the strenghts and weaknesses of the Clean
Water Act, it is important to understand where water pollution comes
from in the first place.
Point sources of water pollution are institutions-
industries and municipalities- that release pollutants into a
body of water at a fixed location, or point. Types of point-source pollution include
chemicals, toxics, heavy metals, and sewage.
Before rushing to point a finger at "greedy industrialists,"
remember that a major source of point-source pollution is
municipal waste water treatment facilities-- the folks on the
receiveing end every
time you flush the toilet. (Unless you are on a septic system,
which is associated with a whole different set of environmental
consequences!)
When the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, point sources were
a serious threat to the health of America's water bodies. They
are much more obvious than the other kind of water pollution,
non-point source.
In addition, point-source pollution is much easier to monitor and
regulate than non-point sources are.
For all these reasons, point-sources of water pollution were
the focus of almost all the provisions of the origional Clean
Water Act. Under the act, all point-source dischargers of pollution are required
to get a permit from the federal government. They must follow specific
rules governing the kinds and amounts pollution they may release into the water.
And point-source dischargers must also make use of technologies to
clean up waste water before putting it back into a river, lake, or estuary.
Although pollution from point sources
has not entirely disappeared, it has been reduced significantly as a result
of the Clean Water Act. And federal regulations have evolved over the
years to help towns and industries meet water quality standards
at lower costs.
A backslide in federal and state efforts to protect water
quality could erode many of the gains made over the last 25 years.
Without regulation, point-source dischargers would almost
certainly increase the amount of pollution in our water bodies.
However, at present levels of regulation, we have probably wrung just about
all the water quality improvements out of point-source dischargers that
we possibly can. To continue down the road of improving water quality
and recovering water bodies, we must turn our efforts to non-point sources of pollution.
Non-point source pollution is all of the stuff that washes into
the water from lawns, farms, streets, and parking lots. Types of
non-point source pollution include fertilizers, pesticides, sediments
from the erosion of soil, paints, oil, toxics, floatable debris (a.k.a.
litter), and chemicals. No one deliberately puts these
substances into the water. They just wash in with the rain.
In many areas, water quality is still rather poor despite
thorough regulation of point-source dischargers. In such cases,
non-point source pollution is the culprit. Non-point sources were
largely ignored by the origional Clean Water Act. But government and
environmentalists are paying more and more attention to this subtle yet
significant source of water pollution.
Monitoring and regulating non-point sources of pollution are tricky.
The polluting substances that wash in to the water are usually spread
over a large area of land. So the first task is to find out
where the pollution is coming from. It may be coming from just one or two
farms. On the other hand, it may be coming from three dozen farms, a whole suburban
community of lawns, or the storm runoff of a whole city!
Although controlling non-point source water pollution is difficult, some
newer efforts are meeting with some success. Some of these are:
Only time will tell if such efforts to control non-point
sources of pollution will result in better water quality.
But even if these particular methods are not enough, it is
encouraging that government, environmentalists, homeowners,
and farmers are increasingly aware of the problem, and are starting
to do something about it.
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The Problem
Point Source Pollution
Non-Point Source Pollution
Water Quality Links
Site Table of Contents
The Problem
Point Source Pollution
Non-Point Source Pollution
Water Quality Links
To learn more about water quality and efforts to protect it, check
out some of these links.
EPA's Main Water Page.
The Environmental Protection Agency is primarily responsible for
implementing the Clean Water Act.
The Army Corps of Engineers.
The Army Corps of Engineers issues several types of permits
under the Clean Water Act, including the famous "Section 404" permit
that is required before destroying a wetland. Their homepage doesn't
have much information about water permits, but
this site
from Environmental Technical Services has lots of info.
Here are some Clean Water Act links:
The Clean Water Act of 1972
The Clean Water Act from Cross Talk.
Evolution of the Clean Water Act of 1977
Regulatory Overview of the Clean Water Act from Cross Talk.
Outline of Clean Water Act Programs from Green Link.
The Clean Water Act, Has it Worked?
Some special areas of water regulation:
Federal Wetlands Regulation: The Clean Water Act from
Environmental Technical Services.
Storm Water and the Clean Water Act
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