IHP 501 Final Project Milestone Three

The Clean Water Act of 1972 provides “the legislative establishment of regulatory structure regarding the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the U.S. and quality standards for U.S. surface waters” (Reilly 2004). The initial legislative effort to control water quality began with the Federal Water Pollution Act in 1948, the basis of which was reorganized and expounded upon to become the Clean Water Act. This legislation provides for the implementation of water pollution control programs to enforce water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters and governs wastewater standards for industry in many ways to include making it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters without a permit to do so. The Clean Water Act is foremost among federal laws which govern water pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with enforcing the policies set forth with the CWA.