BESC 367: Module 5: Clean Water Act

Federal Pollution Control Act 1977 Amendments aka Clean Water Act

1977 amendments addressed long-term funding for wastewater treatment facilities, toxic pollutants, sludge management, and wetland protection.

Federal Pollution Control Act 1987 Amendments aka Clean Water Act

1987 amendments added stormwater permitting, nonpoint source pollution control, and Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay protection programs.

Federal Pollution Control Act 2000 Amendments aka Clean Water Act

2000 amendments, otherwise known as the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act, supported updated water quality standards and pathogen monitoring for recreational waters

Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)

A federal-state partnership that provides communities low-cost financing for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects.

atmospheric deposition

A form of nonpoint source according to the CWA and EPA regulations: pollutants discharged into the air and returned directly or indirectly to surface waters in rainfall and snow, as well as so-called dry deposition between precipitation events.

NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit

A permit issued by the U.S. EPA or a State regulatory agency that sets specific limits on the type and amount of pollutants that a municipality or industry can discharge to a receiving water; it also includes a compliance schedule for achieving those limits. It is called this because the permit process was established under provisions of the Federal Clean Water Act.

antidegradation

A policy to ensure the protection of water quality for a particular water body where the water quality exceeds levels necessary to protect fish and wildlife propagation and recreation on and in the water. This also includes special protection of waters designated as outstanding natural resource waters.

Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)

A site-specific, written document signed by a company executive that (1) identifies all of the activities and conditions at their site that could cause water pollution, and (2) details the steps the facility will take to prevent the discharge of any unpermitted pollution.

publicly owned treatment work (POTW)

A treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the CWA, that is owned by the state or municipality. This definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW treatment plant [40 CFR 403.3]. Privately-owned treatment works, Federally-owned treatment works, and other treatment plants not owned by municipalities are not considered POTWs.

mitigation bank

A wetland, stream, or other aquatic resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced, or (in certain circumstances) preserved for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources permitted under Section 404.

Federal Pollution Control Act 1972 Amendments aka Clean Water Act

Amendments in 1972 led to the establishment of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, which effectively limited the amount of point source pollution discharged into the waters of the U.S. by regulating pollutants at the source.

water quality criteria (WQC)

EPA develops criteria for determining when water has become unsafe for people and wildlife using the latest scientific knowledge. These criteria are recommendations. State and tribal governments may use these criteria or use them as guidance in developing their own.

Clean Water Act

Establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972.

Federal Pollution Control Act prior to 1972

Prior to 1972, states had "water quality standards" that sought to regulate the amount of pollutants that were discharged into surface waters. This proved ultimately to be both inefficient and ineffective due to the lack of accurate and appropriate monitoring technologies available at the time. The act resultantly did very little to combat the growing problem of surface water pollution because of these technological restrictions.

Best Management Practices (BMPs)

Procedures or controls other than effluent limitations to prevent or reduce pollution of surface water (includes runoff control, spill prevention, and operating procedures).

section 404

Section of the Clean Water Act (CWA) that establishes a program to regulate the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands. Activities in waters of the United States regulated under this program include fill for development, water resource projects (such as dams and levees), infrastructure development (such as highways and airports) and mining projects. Section that requires a permit before dredged or fill material may be discharged into waters of the United States, unless the activity is exempt from this section's regulation (e.g., certain farming and forestry activities).

Section 303(d) list

Section of the Clean Water Act that authorizes EPA to assist states, territories and authorized tribes in listing impaired waters and developing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for these waterbodies

"waters of the U.S."

The 1972 amendments to the Clean Water Act established federal jurisdiction over "navigable waters," defined in the Act as this term (CWA Section 502(7)). Many Clean Water Act programs apply only to this term. The Clean Water Act provides discretion for EPA and the U.S. Department of the Army to define this term in regulations.

Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Program

The 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act (CWA) established this program. The section addresses the need for greater federal leadership to help focus state and local nonpoint source efforts. Under this program, states, territories and tribes receive grant money that supports a wide variety of activities including technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects and monitoring to assess the success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects.

Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)

The amount of particular pollutants that a water body can receive from both point and non-point sources and still meet water quality standards.

wetlands

Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soils; generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4)

a conveyance or system of conveyances that is:owned by a state, city, town, village, or other public entity that discharges to waters of the U.S., designed or used to collect or convey stormwater (e.g., storm drains, pipes, ditches), not a combined sewer, and not part of a sewage treatment plant, or publicly owned treatment works (POTW).

designated uses

a use specified in water quality standards for each water body whether or not conditions currently support that use (helpful to think of these as "desired" uses). (e.g. a water body may be designated by state regulations for "aquatic life support" even though it might not contain a healthy ecosystem now.)

Technology-based effluent limitations (TBELs)

aim to prevent pollution by requiring a minimum level of effluent quality that is attainable using demonstrated technologies for reducing discharges of pollutants or pollution into the waters of the United States. Developed independently of the potential impact of a discharge on the receiving water, which is addressed through water quality standards and water quality-based effluent limitations (WQBELs).

Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)

allow a discharger to undertake an environmentally beneficial project as restitution for polluting water.

Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET)

describes the aggregate toxic effect of an aqueous sample (e.g., whole effluent wastewater discharge) as measured by an organism's response upon exposure to the sample (e.g., lethality, impaired growth, or reproduction)

water quality-based effluent limitations (WQBELs)

designed to ensure that water quality standards are met. In order to develop effective limitations, permit writers must be familiar with State water quality standards methods for predicting water quality impacts from discharges, and procedures for establishing limiations.

Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Rule

helps facilities prevent a discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.

Water Quality Standards (WQS)

provisions of state, territorial, authorized tribal or federal law approved by EPA that describe the desired condition of a water body and the means by which that condition will be protected or achieved. Water bodies can be used for purposes such as recreation (e.g. swimming and boating), scenic enjoyment, and fishing, and are the home to many aquatic organisms. To protect human health and aquatic life in these waters, states, territories and authorized tribes establish WQS. WQS form a legal basis for controlling pollutants entering the waters of the United States.

existing uses

refers not only to those uses the water body is capable of supporting at present but also any use to which the water body has actually attained since November 28, 1975

diffuse pollution

the release of potential pollutants from a range of activities that, individually, may have no effect on the water environment, but, at the scale of a catchment, can have a significant effect. Problems occur in both rural and urban environments.

point source pollution

water pollution discharged from a single identifiable location (e.g., pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types).

non-point source pollution

water pollution that does not have a specific point of release