Environmental Regulations and the Clean Water Act

Clean Water Act
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Clean Water Act
The United States of America (USA) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plays a significant role in developing pollution control programs. In particular, the Clean Water Act (CWA), which was by then known as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, was first enacted in 1948. However, after its amendment in 1972, the Act’s name “CWA” became common. The CWA sets the basic structure for controlling water pollutants, which might harm the quality of surface waters (Environmental Protection Agency, 2022a). The paper focuses on how Section 402, 403, and 405 of the CWA relates to other types of environmental regulations, how these relationships developed, and my opinion of why “cleaner” statutes have not been implemented to set things clear.
Section 402 of the CWA is called the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Indeed, it prohibits people, organizations, commercial, municipal, and industrial facilities from discharging any pollutants into navigable waters. If any discharge has to be channeled to water sources, a permit must be obtained from the NPDES (Environmental Protection Agency, 2022a). Section 402 of the CWA relates to other types of environmental regulations, such as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which regulates the use, importation, disposal, and production of chemical materials. The relationship comes about since both Section 402 of the CWA and TSCA controls the discharge of waste products in water sources. In my opinion, “cleaner” statutes were not written to put these regulations in the right place since the TSCA applies not only to water but to land and air pollution.
Section 403 of the CWA safeguards the water quality standards by controlling the discharge of waste products to territorial seas, oceans, and contiguous zones (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, n.d.). In that light, no individual or business entity should channel any materials to oceans and seas without complying with the NPDES permit. Notably, Section 403 of the CWA relates to the Ocean Dumping Act (ODA). The...