Table1-1: Clean Water Act and Major Amendments and Actions

(Codified generally as 33 U.S.C. 1251-1387)

Year Act Action
1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Authorizes the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, in cooperation with other Federal, state and local entities, to prepare comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing the pollution of interstate waters and tributaries and improving the sanitary condition of surface and underground waters.
1956 Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 Authorizes federal money for water treatment plants
1961 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments
  • Stipulates federal agencies to consider water quality control during the planning for any reservoir, storage to regulate streamflow
  • Authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to undertake research programs related to determining effects of pollutants and treatment methods and to assess water quality in the Great Lakes.
1965 Water Quality Act of 1965 Authorizes federal government to set water standards
1966 Clean Water Restoration Act A uthorize s the Secretary of Interior, in cooperation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Water Resources Council, to conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of pollution, including sedimentation, in the estuaries and estuarine zones of the U.S. on fish and wildlife, sport and commercial fishing, recreation, water supply and power, and other specified uses .
1970 Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970
  • Requires performance standards be developed for marine sanitation devices (33 U.S.C. 1322)
  • Authorize demonstration projects to control acid or other mine water pollution (33 U.S.C. 1257a) and to control water pollution within the watersheds of the Great Lakes (33 U.S.C. 1258). The amendments described the responsibility of Federal agencies to ensure that any Federal facilities are operated in compliance with applicable water quality standards (33 U.S.C. 1323).
1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments Restores polluted waters for recreational use and eliminating discharges of pollutants into the waters of United States without and NPEDS permit.
1977 Clean Water Act of 1977
  • Extensive Clean Water Act Amendments.
  • Develops a "Best Management Practices" Program .
  • Authorizes the Secretary of Interior to complete the National Wetlands Inventory .
1981 Municipal Wastewater Treatment Construction Grants Amendments

Requires treatment works grants be made only for:

(1) secondary treatment or more stringent treatment, or any cost effective alternative

(2) new interceptors and appurtenances

(3) infiltration-in-flow correction.
1987 Water Quality Act of 1987

Requires 5 types of stormwater discharges to obtain stormwater discharge permits. The five discharges are:

  • industrial activities
  • municipal separate stormwater sewer system serving a population of 250,000 or more
  • municipal separate stormwater sewer system serving a population of 100,000 or more
  • permit issued prior to February 4, 1987
  • the admistrator of the state determined that the discharge constitutes a violation
1995   EPA publishes the final rule for multi-sector permitting option developed for 29 industrial sectors (60 FR 50804).
1998  
  • EPA reissues general permit for construction activity (63 FR 7858).
  • EPA publishes final rule for the NPDES multi-sector general permit and terminates the NPDES baseline industrial general permit (63 FR 52430).
2000   Final issuance of multi-sector general permit (FR 64801).
2003  
  • Implementing NPDES Phase II regulations to include small MS4s and construction activities disturbing between 1 and 5 acres.
  • Reissuance of the general permit for construction activities (68 FR 39087).
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