Clean Water Act Owner's Manual
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Second Edition TheTheCleanWaterActCleanWaterAct Owner’s Manual River Network Foreword by Jimmy Carter The CleanWater Act Owner’s Manual 2nd Edition www.rivernetwork.org www.cleanwateract.org NATIONAL OFFICE WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE VERMONT OFFICE 520 SW Sixth Avenue, #1130 3814 Albemarle Street, NW 153 State Street Portland, Oregon 97204-1511 Washington, DC 20016 Montpelier, VT 05602 tel: (503) 241-3506 tel: (202) 364-2550 tel: (802) 223-3840 fax: (503) 241-9256 fax: (202) 364-2520 fax: (802) 223-6227 Author: Gayle Killam River Network contributors: Don Elder Karli Salmeron Geoff Dates Michael Curnes Katherine Luscher Jean Hamilla Editors: Paul Koberstein and Ann Valeisis Photo Editors: Megan Hooker and Gayle Killam Publication Design by Bryan Potter Design Copyright © March, 1999 by River Network 2nd Edition July, 2005 by River Network Nonprofit organizations are hereby granted permission to share and reprint information from this book. All others must seek written permission from River Network: 520 SW 6th Avenue, #1130, Portland, Oregon 97204 The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual has been designed and printed in part thanks to a generous contribution from www.stormwaterinc.com Cover photo (left): River Network collection Cover photo (middle): Tim Palmer Cover photo (right): Tim Palmer printed on recycled chlorine free paper E Acknowledgments Production of the second edition is based substantially on the first edition and the excellent work by Don Elder and Paul Koberstein. Some text and figures that previously appeared in publications River Network produced in collaboration with other organizations have been modified or updated and used in this book. The publications are “Permitting an End to Pollution,” written and produced with Prairie Rivers Network and Clean Water Network and “Tracking TMDLs,” written and produced with National Wildlife Federation. River Network extends grateful thanks to these foundations for their support of our Clean Water Act work: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation The McKnight Foundation The Joyce Foundation Turner Foundation, Inc. McCune Charitable Foundation The Bullitt Foundation Carolyn Foundation We’d like to thank the following individuals for their substantial contribution to the production of the second edition: Karl Anuta, Gershon Cohen, Rachel Conn, Merritt Frey, Megan Hooker, Peter Lavigne, Tim Palmer, Rick Parrish, Judy Petersen, Barry Sulkin, Brian Wegener and Beth Wentzel Many thanks to the following individuals for their assistance with portions of the second edition: Angie Bera, Navis Bermudez, Alex Cyril, Sean Darcy, Ann deRidder, Danielle Droitsch, Albert Ettinger, Andrew Fahlund, Bonnie Gestring, Barb Horn, Eric Huber, Margaret Janes, Scott McEwen, Vicki Murillo, Jessica Pitelka Opfer, Betsy Otto, Mark Riskedahl, Wendy Schwab, Cindy Skrucrud, Nancy Stoner and Justine Thompson The author would like to thank her River Network colleagues and her husband for supporting her during the production of the 2nd edition. The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual River Network How to use this book… Welcome to River Network’s second edition of The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual! Are you curious about the Clean Water Act and what it means? Did someone recommend that you use the Clean Water Act to solve a problem in your community? Have you heard about a partic- ular section of the Clean Water Act that you want to use to protect your watershed? No matter what you need to know, we believe that this book can provide answers and tools to help you. We want this book to be as useful as possible so please take a few moments with these intro- ductory pages to learn how to use it. The first eight chapters discuss key Clean Water Act provisions, or tools, that citizens will find most useful. In each, you’ll find a main text that explains specifically how the law works in question and answer format. There are several types of sidebars, explained in the “Quick Reference” section (sidebar p.5). At the end of each chapter (and at the end of some sections) you will find an “Action Checklist” that summarizes step-by-step how you can apply each CWA provision, and a “Local Story” that illus- trates how citizens used the tools laid out in the chapter to make a difference in their watershed. We strongly recommend you begin with the first two chapters, Water Quality Standards and NPDES permits. These tools are the basis for so many of the other tools that we start all workshops, whether it is a workshop on stormwater permits, watershed restoration plans or wetland protection, with at least a brief overview of them. Once you learn these fundamentals, you’ll be able to use them to address many issues. You may then choose to keep reading straight through the book or to go directly to specific CWA provisions that will help you to solve your water quality problem. Chapter 9, Solving Problems,offers very brief suggestions about which tools to use (both Clean Water Act and other laws) to address sev- eral problems. Review the Table of Contents to find the most relevant pages in Chapter 9. For each topic, there is a brief overview of the issues and a synopsis of which CWA tools might best address the problem. From there, you can return to the chapters for more detail on specific tools. For exam- ple, if stormwater pollution is the big problem you face, read the suggestions in Chapter 9 and then refer back to the referenced chapters on NPDES permits (Chapter 3) and impaired waters (Chapter 4). Chapter 9 also describes how other environmental laws might work in conjunction with the Clean Water Act to help solve your problem. These other laws are further explained in Chapter 10: Other Laws to Protect Your Watershed. Please don’t be scared off by a term you don’t understand in Chapter 9: Solving Problems. It is meant to be a quick reference to direct you back to relevant chapters. Every suggestion in Chapter 9 is explained in more detail elsewhere in the book. 4 How to use this book Finally, in Chapter 11, you will find helpful resources for additional information and, at the very Quick Reference: end of the book, a glossary of terms. A key to icons used in this book Without community attention to local waters, full protection of the uses and values is not achieved. Today, with limited resources at the local, state and federal levels, and political pressures to weaken CWA protections, most implementation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act is “complaint-driven.” For direct references to language from the Clean Water Concerned citizens are THE driving force behind the Act. Together we must build a strong team of local- Act and the federal regulations that implement the Act. ly involved citizens who can offer information and ideas proactively and who can insist on enforcement of required protections. At no time since the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 has our vigilance been so important. We must rise to the challenge and implement the vision of this law - to restore and main- tain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. I For background and details on a particular topic. For historical background on particular tools. For other resources on specific topics. For public involvement and action opportunities to protect your watershed. For concrete examples of how the Clean Water Act has been put to work. 5 The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual River Network TableofContents A Foreword by Jimmy Carter 8 Introduction 11 Goals of the Clean Water Act 12 Chapter 1: Setting Watershed Goals: Water Quality Standards (Section 303) 15 G Designated Uses 19 G Water Quality Criteria 26 G Antidegradation 35 G Triennial Review 45 Chapter 2: Permitting Pollution: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (Section 402) 51 G General Principles Applicable to All NPDES Permits 55 G Influencing the Permit Process 64 G Broader Application of NPDES Permits 74 G Tips for Testifying 88 Chapter 3: Identifying Problems and Restoring Watersheds (Section 303) 91 G Step one: Threatened and Impaired Waters List 92 G Step two: Watershed Restoration Plans (Total Maximum Daily Loads/TMDLs) 99 Chapter 4: State Oversight of Federal Permits (Section 401) 109 Chapter 5: Protecting Wetlands through Dredge and Fill Permits (Section 404) 117 Chapter 6: Nonpoint Source Pollution Control (Section 319) 131 6 Subhead Chapter 7: State Water Pollution Control Revolving Funds (Title VI) 139 Chapter 8: Citizen Enforcement of the Clean Water Act (Section 505) 147 Chapter 9: Solving Problems 155 G Drinking Water Contamination 156 G Poor Development and Sprawl 158 G Poor Stormwater Management 160 G Combined and Sanitary Sewer Overflows 162 G Destruction of Wetlands 164 G Loss of Natural Streamflows 166 G Dam Building and Poor Operation 168 G Poor Agricultural Practices and Runoff 170 G Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations 172 G Poor Mining Practices and Abandoned Mines 174 G Poor Forestry Practices 176 G Loss of Species and Ecological Integrity 178 Chapter 10: Other Laws to Protect Your Watershed 181 Chapter 11: Collecting Information About Your Watershed 193 Glossary 206 References 7 The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual River Network A Foreword by Jimmy Carter lean water is a basic human right. Without it, the other rights may not even matter. Human Csocieties cannot be healthy, prosperous and just without adequate supplies of clean water. What could be a more basic right than clean water? It has been said that we are what we eat, but it might be more accurate to say that we are what we drink. Our bodies are 70% water; our brains are 95% water. Human beings can survive up to a month without food but not more than a few days without water.