A number of Federal laws relate to water quality, but two laws (and their subsequent amendments) primarily focus, respectively, on the issues of ensuring the quality of surface waters and the quality of domestic supplies. The two Federal laws that enforce water quality and pollution management are the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, or the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.
The Clean Water Act is a 1977 amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, which set the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants to waters of the United States.
The law gave EPA the authority to set effluent standards on an industry basis (technology-based) and continued the requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. The CWA makes it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters unless a permit (NPDES) is obtained under the Act.
The 1977 amendments focused on toxic pollutants. In 1987, the CWA was reauthorized and again focused on toxic substances, authorized citizen suit provisions, and funded sewage treatment plants (POTW's) under the Construction Grants Program.
The CWA provisions for the delegation by EPA of many permitting, administrative, and enforcement aspects of the law to state governments. In states with the authority to implement CWA programs, EPA still retains oversight responsibilities.
The Safe Drinking Water Act was established to protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S. This law focuses on all waters actually or potentially designed for drinking use, whether from above ground or underground sources.
The Act authorized EPA to establish safe standards of purity and required all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with primary (health-related) standards. State governments, which assume this power from EPA, also encourage attainment of secondary standards (nuisance-related).
The Safe Drinking Water Act force developement of national drinking water quality standards and provides for the protection of groundwater supplies which accounts for about 50% of the U.S. population. Amendments to SDWA in 1986 created a new timetable for EPA to establish water quality standards and increased the number of contaminants to be considered. EPA is responsible for establishing maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs)-non enforceable health goals-and maximum contaminant levels (MCLs)-enforceable standards given variable conditions and circumstances.
Source: Based on information provided by the Environmental Protection Agency
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