EPA has the authority to set standards for the quality of wastewater discharges. Amendments to the CWA in 1987 increased the ability of EPA and states to improve water quality by addressing toxic discharges, allowing citizen lawsuits, and funding municipal sewage treatment facilities. Most states have legal authority to implement and enforce the provisions of the Clean Water Act, while EPA retains oversight responsibilities for most state water programs. State water pollution control agencies and EPA use these standards to set limits on the amounts of pollutants that can be discharged into surface waters. Questions dealing with specific bodies of water, monitoring surveys, or permits should be directed to your state water quality agency.
Wetlands occupy a specialized niche between land and surface water, where plants and animals abound.
Wetlands have historically been viewed as mosquito-ridden wastelands, impediments to development because of their saturated and frequently flooded conditions. Discharges from industries, midnight dumping of toxic wastes, urban runoff, acid rain , and agricultural chemicals have polluted and degraded wetlands as well. Wet meadows, prairie potholes, wooded swamps, and coastal, saltwater marshes are distinctly different. But all wetlands are important wildlife habitats, breeding grounds, and nurseries. Hundreds of species of birds use wetlands for mating, nesting, brood-rearing, and for resting and feeding during migration.