The CWA and the water pollution problem

• Author: Jeffrey G. Miller/Ann Powers/Nancy Long Elder/Karl S. Coplan
• Pages: 1-12

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Chapter I:

THE CWA AND THEWATER

POLLUTIONPROBLEM

A. INTRODUCTION

is casebook explores water pollution and the federal statute chiey

designed to control it, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA)

better known as the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387.

e CWA is not the only statute controlling water pollution. e Marine

Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 1401-

1445 (2012), regulates the transportation of pollutants for disposal at sea;

and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), 42 U.S.C. §§300f to 300j-26,

regulates the purity of drinking water. Other environmental statutes regulate

water pollution incidentally. e Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

(RCRA), 42 U.S.C. §§6901-6992k, for instance, regulates water pollution

insofar as it is also a hazardous waste under that statute. All of these federal

statutes have their state counterparts. Moreover, the process of administering

the statutes is governed in part by still other statutes, e.g., the Administrative

Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§551-706 (2012).

us, a web of interlocking statutes regulates water pollution control. e

study of water pollution control regulation, therefore, is a study of statutes

and their administration. But before this legislation was enacted, the com-

mon law dealt with disputes arising when one party polluted water to the det-

riment of another, evoking primarily the law of nuisance and trespass. Tort

law continues to play a role in water pollution, adjudicating disputes between

parties for damages caused by water pollution, even as the government uses

its regulatory statutes to control water pollution for the public good.

is casebook will examine how water pollution is addressed, rst by the

common law and then by statute. Before either examination can take place,

however, the student must have some understanding of what constitutes

water pollution, where it originates, and how it can be controlled. e fol-

lowing sections focus on these questions.