The+Clean+Water+Act

=__The Clean Water Act__=



__Main Objective__
The main objective of the CWA is to e nsure that surface waters would meet standards necessary for human sports and recreation by 1983.

__Basic Information__

 * Called the Clean Water Act (abbrev. CWA)
 * Based on the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972
 * Amended in 1977, 1981, and 1987
 * National piece of legislature
 * Enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

__General Background Information__
In 1948 the Federal Water pollution Control Amendments were created, which lightly addressed issues pertaining to water pollution, but failed to save our open waters. Its focus was mainly on point sources of pollution, which is only one of the many sources of pollution. In 1969 the Cuyahoga River caught fire bringing a lot of attention to water pollution, and caused a revise in the Federal Water Pollution Amendements. In 1977 The Clean Water Act was created replacing the FWPA which began to focus on chemical and biological problems of our open waters. Amendments continued to take place in 1977, 1981, and 1987. Within the last decade it has been focusing on physical, and biological integrity of the waters, as well as using watershed based strategy. The Clean Water Act now aims to "protect healthy water, and restore impaired ones."

**__The Law Today: Successful or Not?__** Since the legislation was installed, the CWA has been a big success. Cases involving water pollution are taken very seriously, and consequences for offenders range depending on the violation. Some recent case developments are listed under News Results listed below.

**__Recent News Results for Clean Water Act__**

__http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/EPA-Launches-Investigation-Into-Toxins-And-0001__

__http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-07/allegheny-faces-possible-water-lawsuit-in-w-va-.html__

__http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/02/14/news/doc4d588c6a3295c216285060.txt__

__http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/feb/09/some-say-bill-will-weaken-virginias-enforcement-cl-ar-829879/__

__http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/02/05/epa_mass_plant_agrees_to_pay_41k_for_violations/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Local+news__

__Works Cited__
"Clean Water Act." // Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia //. 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. . "Summary of CWA | Laws & Regulations | US EPA." // US Environmental Protection Agency //. Environmental Protection Agency, 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. .