Opinion ID: 393673
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Water Quality Standards Under the Clean Water Act

Text: 8 Water quality standards initially appeared in Section 5 of the Water Quality Act of 1965 7 as the primary method of water pollution control. Under the 1965 Act, the standards consisted of three basic elements: (1) a designated use such as public water supply, recreational, fish propagation, agricultural, or industrial uses; (2) water quality criteria for various pollutants, which are expressed in numeric concentration limits or in narrative form and are sufficiently stringent to protect the designated use; 8 and (3) a plan for the implementation and enforcement of the water quality criteria. 9 The states were each required to adopt water quality standards for the waters within their boundaries, and if they failed to adopt complying standards, the federal government was required to promulgate standards in cooperation with state officials. 10 9 The significant role of water quality standards in controlling water pollution was altered by the passage in 1972 of the FWPCA Amendments. 11 The Amendments were enacted, in part, from a recognition in Congress of the lack of efficacy of the existing water quality standards as the major vehicle for pollution control and abatement. 12 The Amendments assigned secondary priority to the standards and placed primary emphasis upon both a point source discharge permit program and federal technology-based effluent limitations (specified maximum levels of pollution allowed to be discharged by an individual source). Clean Water Act §§ 301, 302, 307 and 402. The standards, however, were retained in the newly enacted Section 303, and their use updated accordingly.