Clean Water and the Law

By Dave Sligh

When many people hear the word “law” their eyes glaze over or they immediately think of contentious and sometimes silly lawsuits. But to me environmental laws are great tools for folks to use in protecting the streams and rivers that are our heritage and commonly-owned resources.

The Clean Water Act is the most important water quality law and has been extremely effective in many ways. The law set an ambitious goal: to protect and restore the integrity of our Nation’s waters from all of the insults, generally unintentional, that we humans inflict upon our natural resources. I like to think of the Act as a promise that Americans made to each other.

Most people don’t know that although the Clean Water Act is a federal law, the vast majority of the time State workers are the ones who implement and enforce it. Here in Virginia, the primary agencies with responsibility for carrying out the Clean Water Act are the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). In addition the Act specifically allows and encourages citizens to help enforce the law by empowering them to bring citizen suits when the government agencies don’t act. But there are many opportunities for citizens to influence the decisions agencies make and the quality of their streams. The State of Virginia adopts regulations that give more specific guidance for carrying out the broader goals in the laws passed by Congress or the General Assembly and citizens must be given the chance to comment and help shape those rules. Also, when a particular permit is being considered for issuance, citizens can and should let their views be known.

One of the first great tasks after passage of the Act in 1972 was to clean up the millions of pipes discharging industrial waste and often poorly treated or untreated sewage into streams. Every pipe that discharges to a stream now has to be permitted by the State of Virginia and is to be held to quality standards designed to protect the receiving stream’s natural balance and all of the uses people have a right to make of it. In the jargon of the Clean Water Act, all waters are supposed to be “fishable and swimmable.” These permitting efforts and large amounts of public funding have brought most of our municipal wastewater up to pretty high standards and most industries have made great progress.

Virginia has its own laws that often mirror the federal model but in some cases add provisions that are especially suited to our conditions. We have additional state and local laws that add other protections. Under other water protection permits, cities are required to have plans to manage the stormwater that pours off of their streets. When we cover the land with pavement and concrete, we increase the amount of water that rushes into streams in a short period of time and we contaminate it with the residue of modern human living – oil, trash, heavy metals, pesticides and lawn fertilizers, and just plain dirt.

Builders are required to prevent erosion and keep dirt and other pollutants from washing off of their sites and local governments play a central role here. They enforce local ordinances that counties and cities adopt to meet or exceed minimum standards set by the State. Foresters face similar regulations that are enforced by the Virginia Division of Forestry.

Farmers with cattle, hogs, or poultry have large amounts of manure that they must handle properly to prevent water pollution which can present health threats and damage to stream life. They are required to contain this waste away from streams and groundwater and to apply it to the land in ways that prevent it from being washed into the water during storm events.

So, I’d encourage you to realize that clean water laws are your laws. It’s up to you and me to make sure they work, because we all have a lot a stake.