I was listening to a recent episode of the Stormwater World Podcast in which host Ty Garmon was interviewing Barry Fagan, PE, PLS, Owner and Vice President of Fagan, LLC, where he was discussing that last year was the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Clean Water Act, but we didn’t celebrate it and we haven’t met the goals of restoring the quality of our waters by 1985. So those goals are almost 40 years overdue and yet the general public doesn’t even know what stormwater is.
So what is the Clean Water Act and why does it exist?
The 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) was an update to the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the first major US law to address water pollution. The 1948 law authorized the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service to prepare comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing pollution in interstate waters and tributaries by improving the sanitary condition of surface and underground water. The 1972 Clean Water Act was a complete revision of the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act, spurred by public awareness and concern which was catalyzed, in part, by the more than a dozen Cuyahoga River fires in the 1960s. (Yes, the river itself was actually on fire because of the amount of pollution in the water.)
According to the EPA’s website, the CWA is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. It establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the Waters of the United States (WOTUS). Any point source into a navigable water must have a permit to discharge any pollutants. It established the NPDES permitting program to permit these discharges into navigable waterways. Finally, the CWA required states to estable standards for water quality in their water bodies. The CWA is more enforceable than its predecessor law due to it giving enforcement authority to the (then newly formed) federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mostly facilitated through the equivalent state agencies, and to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Where are we now?
The CWA contained interim goals to 1) achieve “fishable and swimmable” waters by 1983, and 2) eliminate all discharges of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985 and the primary overall goal to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. The interim goals were not met and we are now 40 years beyond that deadline.
Over the last 50 years, the health of our waters has improved. The CWA has been largely effective for pollution from point sources like factories and sewage plants, as long as there are no large storm events that flood those facilities. The EPA reports that the national significant noncompliance (SNC) rate for facilities permitted under the CWA has been reduced (most recent numbers show 20.3% SNC in 2018, when nearly 11,000 facilities significantly exceeded their permit, down to 9.0% in 2022). However, the US Government Accountability Office found in 2021 that the EPA lacks reliable information needed to ensure polluters are complying with their permits.
However, threats to water safety still exist. According to the EPA’s most recent report (2017) the quality of only about half of US waters have been assessed. The quality status of the other half is unknown. The CWA has been less effective for non-point sources such as agriculture and other pollutants in stormwater runoff, which are the leading cause of water pollution. Stormwater runoff carries sediment, oil, bacteria, and toxins and is usually not treated before it enters a waterway. In addition, widespread pollution of rivers, lakes, and groundwater by persistent or “forever” chemicals (PFAS) has recently been discovered. The EPA is still trying to identify and control industrial sources for PFAS.
Although most point source pollution has improved, there is still an issue related to stormwater with this pollution. Most sanitary wastewater treatment plants and industrial waste storage are not designed to contain the stormwater for large rain events, hurricanes, and floods. These larger rain events have caused water and wastewater infrastructure to fail.
Significant strides have been made. The sources of pollution that created situations like the Cuyahoga River Fire have largely been addressed. We have reduced the pollution from raw sewage, industrial chemicals, and dangerous metals. We still have a long way to go to make the intended Clean Water Act goal to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters a reality.
Sources:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-290.pdf
https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-and-compliance-annual-results-fiscal-year-2022
