The 1987 amendments built upon the existing framework of the CWA in four important ways. In 1981 Congress reduced the federal funding proportion for most grants to 55%. In 2017, CWSRF assistance totaling $7.4 billion was provided to 1,484 local projects across the country. America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. [24] Pursuant to WIFIA, EPA established its Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center in 2015 to help local governments and municipal utilities design innovative financing mechanisms, including public–private partnerships. The CWA introduced the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), a permit system for regulating point sources of pollution. . Opens Probe Here on Pollution" The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, December 1970", "Press Conference Attorney General Mitchell 12-18-1970", "Taylor may get new trial; Court of Appeals rules 2-1 to reverse conviction", Legislative Approaches to Defining 'Waters of the United States. Although denoted the Federal Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act in the U.S. Code, the statute's common name is the Clean Water Act. In the CWSRF, federal funds are provided to the states and Puerto Rico to capitalize their respective revolving funds, which are used to provide financial assistance (loans or grants) to local governments for wastewater treatment, nonpoint source pollution control and estuary protection. The CWA outlawed the discharge of any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters unless a permit was obtained. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem. In 2000, the EPA sought to address these concerns through a number of initiatives designed to streamline the permit process for municipal and industrial discharges of wastewater. One such example was the maintenance of agricultural drainage ditches. Obtaining an advanced ruling provides some level of comfort that the activities will have been deemed conducted in good faith. "EPA, Lawmakers, and Timber Fight to the End." If those standards indicate designated uses to be less than those currently attained, states or tribes are required to revise standards to reflect the uses that are actually being attained. As amended in 1977, this law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act. Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA sets national water quality criteria and specifies levels of various chemical pollutants that are allowable under these criteria. Justice Scalia, writing for the four justices, argued that the Corps of Engineers had exceeded its authority "beyond parody" by regulating land that contained nothing but drainage ditches, storm sewers and "dry arroyos in the middle of the desert." [41][42] The assessments identify water quality problems within the states and jurisdictions, list the impaired and threatened water bodies, and identify non-point sources that contribute to poor water quality. . [98] EPA then formally suspended the 2015 regulation and announced plans to issue a new version later in 2018. States that are authorized by EPA to administer the NPDES program must have authority to enforce permit requirements under their respective state laws. ", "Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Policy. By the late 1990s, the EPA had changed its focus under the Clean Water Act to emphasize eliminating nonpoint source pollution, like chemicals from agricultural runoff or erosion from logging or construction activities. The 1972 Clean Water Act has been amended three times: in 1977; in 1981 when Congress passed the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Construction Grants Amendments; and in 1987 with the Water Quality Act. [37], The framework that came out of the Clean Water Act to be implemented by the EPA and states includes states monitoring their water bodies and establishing Water Quality Standards for them. Point-source pollution, which is discharged by sewers and factories or other sources with a specific origin, is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the CWA’s discharge permit program, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).