Water Protection: The Clean Water Act
Water Protection In 2011 Water Quality Annual Report of Seattle, I find good news: Seattle’s tap water continues to be some of the best in the nation. (“Water Quality,” 2011) When I first came to Seattle, I realized that the taste of water in Seattle was different from my country. That confused me for a long time until I saw the report and helped me to confirm water quality in Seattle was good. From my own experience, I firmly think the water quality in America is better than in China generally. Therefore, I decided to do some research on water quality in America. There is a law in America called “The Clean Water Act”. In this paper, I will focus on the act and figure out what it is. I will also show how the US government protects clean water, what kinds of policies they have regarding the Clean Water Act, how the executive branch enforces these polices and how we can participate in that. If we want to know more information about the quality of water in the US, we have to figure out what the Clean Water Act is first. Clean Water Act is the principal law governing pollution of the nation’s surface waters. It has another name, which is the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The purpose of the act is to improve the quality of water; the act has since been expanded and is still being implemented by industries and municipalities. Although it was enacted in 1948, it was totally revised by amendments in 1972 that gave the act its current shape. Early on, the emphasis was on controlling dischargers of conventional pollutants, but now it moves to control of toxic pollutants, which are a key factor of water quality recently. Under this act, federal jurisdiction is broad, particularly regarding establishment of national standards or effluent limitations. The act claims that all discharges into the nation’s waters are unlawful, unless specifically authorized by a permit, which is the act’s principal enforcement tool. The law has civil, criminal, and administrative