Clean water act4/27/2023 ![]() Four years later the state decided to reverse its grant and took the Railroad to court. Illinois granted 1,000 acres on the Lake Michigan shores to the Illinois Central Railroad for development. Public Trust Doctrine became part of United States common law when it was invoked in the case of Illinois Central Railroad v. Great Britain's Magna Carta includes clauses for public rights which had been strengthened from the times of Roman Emperor Justinian. The Public Trust Doctrine has been a legal aspect of many nations. The Public Trust Doctrine from Roman times essentially states that the sea, seashores, running water and air are all rights of the public and should be protected and available for public or common use. The Public Trust Doctrine, which originated in ancient Rome, also strengthens the Clean Water Act legally. Challenges to the Clean Water Act have been made in various levels of court to date no judge, including Supreme Court Justices, has found the Clean Water Act to be unconstitutional. The combination of waters used for navigation and for propagation strengthen the support of the Clean Water Act’s basis in Constitutional Law. Congress included the provisions for the “protection and propagation of fish, shellfish and wildlife”. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 with bipartisan efforts. The Clean Water Act took shape from the failed policies of the 1965 Water Quality Act which focused on industrial water pollution, and relied almost entirely on the states to improve water quality. The commerce clause has been the backbone of many environmental laws including the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Clean Water Act. Regulation of commerce includes means of navigation for the transport of goods all forms of surface waters including rivers, creeks and streams are included under the term “navigable waters”. Article I, Section 8 also grants Congress the power to “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper”. The Commerce Clause, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate intra and interstate commerce. Sign up for our newsletter for more tips and to keep up on MetroConnects news.Like every law of the land, the Clean Water Act (CWA) finds its legal basis in the United States Constitution. at Chick Springs Road, and then head over to the Southern Growl for Happy Hour afterward. 20, join Greer CPW for the nationwide “Imagine a Day Without Water” litter cleanup from 5 p.m. See Clean Water Act 50 and “Protect the Source: Keeping our Water Systems Clean” for some simple ideas on how to be a good water steward. ![]() We can all do our part to prevent excess pollutants from entering our waterways. The most pressing problems involve excess mercury, pathogens, nutrients, PCBs, sediment, and organic enrichment/oxygen depletion. Among those that were assessed, the majority were found to be polluted and unsafe for swimming, drinking, fishing, or other uses. This comes at a time when only 31 percent of our rivers and streams and 45 percent of our lakes and reservoirs have been assessed in the most recent reports from EPA. Supreme Court is currently hearing a case whose outcome could narrow the scope of the Act. Government Accountability Office.ĭespite the positive impact of the Act, our waterways remain under threat. Most recent map of impaired waters (2015). The Future of the ActĪs we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, we must also remember that there is still work to do. We diligently seek state and federal funds to proactively maintain our 1,400 miles of sewer lines in Greenville County and prevent untreated wastewater from entering our water systems. MetroConnects joins in this effort to protect our waterways everyday by providing safe, sustainable wastewater collection services. The CWA created regulations and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that we all have access to safe, clean drinking water, unpolluted waterways, and sustainable sanitary sewer services. Only 85 million Americans were served by sewage treatment plants, and untreated sewage was dumped directly into rivers and lakes. ![]() Prior to the Clean Water Act, an estimated two-thirds of lakes, rivers, and coastal waters were unsafe for fishing and swimming. population) were being served by secondary treatment or better wastewater treatment systems subject to Clean Water Act pollution limits.Ĭourtesy of Clean Water Act 50th Anniversary fact sheet. As of 2012, 234 million people (74% of the U.S. It is no longer common in the United States to dump untreated sewage directly into water. Each year, Clean Water Act standards help to eliminate 700 billion tons of toxic pollution from 40,000 facilities that discharge directly to water and from 129,000 facilities that discharge to municipal wastewater treatment systems, as well as from some construction sites.
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