The U.S. Clean Water Act A sign identifies the wetlands route as a Coastal Heritage Greenway in Delaware. Steve St. John/National Geographic/Getty Images The wetland preservation movement began in the U.S. in earnest with the CleanWaterAct (CWA) of 1972. Although not specifically written to...
The Clean Water Act of 1972 (CWA) was originally the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948. The original objective behind this act was to “to prepare comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing the pollution of interstate waters and tributaries and improving the sanitary condition of ...
water qualityenforcementcriminal sanctionsPublic enforcement of the Clean Water Act (CWA) has been characterized by the increased use of criminal sanctions over the past decade. This sanctioning trend has developed in direct response to the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) as part of ...
Modern water pollution control traces back to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (Clean Water Act or CWA). Like other statutes of its period, the CWA addresses pollution of a single medium, water. Despite its goal of achieving aquatic integrity, the CWA succumbs to what this ...
How we got here.The dispute in the case arose in 2007 when the Sackett family began backfilling a lot they owned in Idaho. The EPA determined the lot contained wetlands protected by the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA), and halted their development. The Supreme Court ruling centered on the defin...
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) developed the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) 401 Certification Rule (“2020 Rule”), which established procedures designed to promote consistent implementation of CWA Section 401 and regulatory certainty in ...
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rendered a decision inSackett et ux. v. EPAaddressing what Justice Alito referred to as a “nagging question” of what water bodies are covered under the Clean Water Act (CWA). What constitutes “Nation’s waters” and what exactly the United...
The 1972 Clean Water Act is the primary law for water quality protection in the United States. The Clean Water Act has been recognized as successful in limiting point source pollutants, yet the nonpoint protections are often criticized as ineffective. Nationally 42,457 waters are currently listed ...
Modern water pollution control traces back to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (Clean Water Act or CWA). Like other statutes of its period, the CWA addresses pollution of a single medium, water. Despite its goal of achieving aquatic integrity, the CWA succumbs to what this ar...
Unfortunately, the protection of something as fundamental as water has become a political issue. The Clean Water Act (CWA) turned 52 in late October 2024. The Act shaped water policy in the United States and helped restore the quality of our country’s waters, but much has changed since ...