Water is a critical source that is utilized by most living things on Earth to support it ways of live. The usage of water ranges from basic household needs to agricultural purposes. Water is one of the resources on the Earth that is becoming more and more scarce and the water available for usage is being further contaminated by pollution causing sickness and death.
(World Health Organization).Countries are experiencing droughts affecting the water supply needed to maintain irrigation, thermoelectric power, and public supply. The definition of water pollution is the result of when too many toxic materials are present, in which negatively impact the water to be unsafe for its intended purpose, which may be drinking to industrial processes or recreation purposes such as swimming. This resulted in more than 1.2 billions people on earth not having access to clean water (Science Daily). Water pollution is a threat to human civilization and is global issue that is attempt to be prevented by countries around the world. United States in particular passes The Clean Water Acts to fight against the threat of water pollution and prevent further damages.
The Clean Water Act attribute to a fundamental law in the United States used to supervise and prevent the pollution of water resources. Enacted in 1972, the Clean Water Act was formulated with the goals of putting the end to the discharging of high quantities of contaminated materials into water resources, and further prevent pollution of water , and making sure that surface waters met the standards needed to support human and agricultural usage. Essentially, the Clean Water Act stipulates the fundamental structure used in the regulation of discharges of toxic pollutants into water resources of the US and ensuring conformance of quality standards for groundwater (Environmental Protection Agency). The Clean Water Act was draws based on the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, which was later developed and revised in 1972 to the Clean Water Act.
Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is authorized to implement programs to control pollution example being the establishment of standards for wastewater discharge for various industries. In addition, the CWA establishes the water quality standards applicable to all groundwater contaminants. The Clean Water Act makes it illegal to unload any contaminant material from a point source into navigable water bodies without acquiring permit from EPA. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program, under the EPA, helps in controlling discharges (Environmental Protection Agency).Environmental Protection Agency refer to, point sources as a source from which pollutant are discharged, which include industrial, agricultural and municipal government facilities.
Examples being man-made ditches and pipes,mingin and the two common point source are factories and sewage treatment. Point sources require the permission from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System to unload polluting substances into surface waters. For instance, individual homes using either septic systems, connected to a municipal system do not require the permission of NPDES; however, municipal, industrial and other facilities have to acquire permits when the location of their discharges are connected directly to surface waters (Environmental Protection Agency).The CWA requires states to identify pollution-impaired water areas and then develop “total maximum daily loads” (TMDLs) with the goal to cut water pollution by 22% to 25% by 2025. TMDLs measure the maximum amount of pollutant allow to enter the water without impacting the water quality.
The drawback being that most states have lacked the resources to undertake this task, and the EPA has been circumspect to step in and to take responsibility, due to that fact that it lacks the necessary personnel to do the job nationwide. Since the late 1980s, there have over 40 lawsuits in 38 states against the EPA regarding TMDL.(Water Encyclopedia), Recent,Waterkeepers Chesapeake and 7 other Riverkeeper organizations, represented by Earthjustice organization,a non-profit environmental law firm, have filed lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the involvement of the delisting of 53 river segments in 17 Maryland counties and Baltimore City. This lawsuit challenges a regulatory action by the EPA that followed the approval of the Bay TMDL(Earthjustice).