Learn More Topic: Protecting the Nation’s Waters: CWA Provisions

Other relevant provisions of the CWA include:

  • Non-point sources. Among other things, the 1987 amendments also added non-point source provisions. Generally speaking, non-point source pollutants are those that are carried off the land by stormwater runoff.
  • Point sources: Direct dischargers. Point sources were addressed by the original enactment of the CWA, which established the basic structure for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. The NPDES requires direct dischargers to obtain a permit for all point sources from which pollutants are discharged to navigable waters.
  • Point sources: Indirect dischargers. Point sources discharging indirectly through publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) are addressed by CWA Section 301's technology based effluent limitations, including those for industrial dischargers to surface waters and POTWs as well as those for POTWs themselves. (See also EPA's webpage on Industrial Water Pollutant Controls.)
Resource. For more information about the Clean Water Act, along with the text of the Act itself (33 U.S.C. 1251-1587), see EPA's webpage on the CWA

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