Lately, I have been asked a lot of questions about the Clean
Water Act ("CWA"). This may not come as a surprise,
as issues concerning the CWA are frequently in the media.
What is the CWA? The CWA is a federal act that has been
around since the 1940s that underwent substantial revision in 1972
and has been periodically revised since then. The full text
of the CWA can be found here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2010-title33/pdf/USCODE-2010-title33-chap26.pdf
In short, the CWA
regulates discharges of pollutants into the waters of the
United States. In fact, all discharges into the nation's waters
are unlawful, unless specifically authorized by permit.
Specifically, the congressional declaration of the goal behind
the CWA is "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,
and biological integrity of the Nation's waters."
See 33 U.S.C. §1251. Further, the
national interim goal has been that all waters be fishable and
swimmable wherever possible.
