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Water Pollution Control Laws |
Healthy water is absolutely essential for human survival like clean air. Human beings need water for drinking, cleaning, washing, fishing, cooking, swimming, farming, industrial uses and so on. Discharges of toxic chemicals, hazardous substances, plastics, heavy metals, organic wastes, sediments etc. render both water and its aquatic life unfit for human consumption. The three major water polluters are industry, municipalities and agriculture.
The Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution and Control Act (FWPCA) to make waters fishable and swim able and to stop the discharge or release of pollutants into navigable waters. The Act requires many water polluters including those discharging conventional water pollutants such as oil, grease, fecal coli form bacteria etc. to use for waste treatment the best conventional pollution control technology or the best practicable control technology or the best available technology economically achievable. However, those polluters discharging toxic substances and non-conventional pollutants like ammonia, chloride, nitrates etc. must install the best technology for waste treatment irrespective of cost considerations or economic factors and despite other constraints.
Under the said FWPCA, the Environment Protection Authority is required to set separate limitation for each toxic substance on considerations of public health instead of economic or technical feasibility.
Section 311 of the FWPCA is designed to meet the problem of oil spill and ocean dumping. Discharge of oil and discolors into the navigable waters of the United States and the adjoining shorelines is not permitted. For any violation the doctrine of strict liability is applicable. There is no escape from liability for the polluters in oil spill cases even if the accident could not have been prevented or averted or even if there is no negligence or lapses on his part. The polluter is liable to heavy fines or penalties.
In addition there are clean up provisions which include drawing up of contingency plans for the removal and checking of oil spills, destruction of the offending vessel or ship and imposition of cost upon the concerned owner or operator for the cleaning up operation.
(Morehttp://www.epa.gov/r5water/cwa.htm)
The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (MPRSA), popularly known as the Ocean Dumping Act, is the second piece of federal legislation passed to tackle international water pollution problems. It prohibits dumping of chemical, radiological or biological warfare agents into the ocean. On the other hand it provides for program for dumping materials into the sea that will not degrade the marine ecology, under the aegis of the Environment Protection Authority.
(Morehttp://www.epa.gov/history/topics/mprsa/index.htm )
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