Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states to identify waters that are impaired by pollution, even after application of pollution controls. For these waters, states must establish a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of pollutants to ensure that water quality standards can be attained. Implementation was dormant until states and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were prodded by numerous lawsuits. The TMDL program has become controversial, in part because of requirements and costs now facing states to implement this 30-year old provision of the law. In 1999, EPA proposed regulatory changes to strengthen the TMDL program. Industries, cities farmers and others may be required to use new pollution controls to meet TMDL requirements. EPA's proposal was widely criticised and congressional interest has been high. This book explores the lingering dispute between states and industry groups, beginning from the Clinton administration and stretching all the way to the present. However, Congress recognised in the Act that, in many cases, pollution controls implemented by industry and cities would be insufficient, due to pollutant contributions from other unregulated sources.