Kiera Jefferson
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is a federal statute that regulates the protection of water in the United States. It was established to control and prevent pollution by setting wastewater standards for industries and developing national water quality criteria for pollutants in surface waters. Under the CWA, it is unlawful to discharge pollutants into waters without authorization or a permit. Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) are a key source of microplastics, and wastewater treatment facilities often lack the infrastructure to screen for microplastic debris. While plastic is not explicitly mentioned in the CWA, it falls under the category of CECs, and Congress has shown interest in addressing plastic pollution.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution in the nation's water |
| Basis | Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 |
| Amendments | 1972, 1977, 1987, 1990 |
| Regulatory Body | Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
| Prohibited Actions | Discharge of pollutants into navigable waters without a permit |
| Exceptions | The President may exempt any effluent source of any department, agency, or instrumentality in the Executive Branch for a 1-year period |
| Enforcement | EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program |
| Applicability | Waters of the United States |
| Related Regulations | Oil Pollution Prevention regulation, Clean Water Act Section 316(b) |
| Plastic-specific Actions | Ban on plastic microbeads in personal care products (2015) |
| Plastic-related Concerns | Microplastics, runoff from agricultural sites, plastic fragments, plastic fibers |
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What You'll Learn
Plastic microbeads are banned in rinse-off personal care products
The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The CWA makes it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters without a permit.
Plastic microbeads, a type of microplastic, are solid plastic particles smaller than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are used in rinse-off personal care products, such as cosmetics and toothpastes, as well as in biomedical and health-science research. These tiny plastic beads can go down the drain after someone scrubs their face or brushes their teeth, potentially ending up in lakes and oceans if they are not filtered out by treatment filtration systems. This can cause plastic particle water pollution and pose an environmental hazard for aquatic animals.
In recognition of these concerns, Congress amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) by passing the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015. This law prohibits the manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of rinse-off cosmetics containing intentionally added plastic microbeads. It also applies to products that are both cosmetics and non-prescription drugs, with separate deadlines for implementation. The Microbead-Free Waters Act provides time for cosmetic and drug firms to reformulate their products and for distributors and retailers to sell their existing inventory.
Several countries and states have also taken steps to ban microbeads in personal care products, including Canada, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, and various US states such as Illinois and California. These efforts reflect a growing awareness of the environmental impact of microplastics and a commitment to reducing their use in cosmetic and personal care products.
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Plastic waste legislation is being addressed by Congress
The BFFPPA focuses on reducing the production and use of single-use plastic products and packaging. It also emphasizes the responsibility of producers in the design, collection, reuse, recycling, and disposal of their consumer goods and packaging. The act aims to prevent plastic pollution from entering animal and human food chains and waterways.
The need for such legislation is evident as the United States generates more plastic waste than any other country. Plastic production and disposal disproportionately impact communities of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous communities by polluting the air, water, and soil. The toxic chemicals in plastic packaging and products cause irreversible harm to the environment, wildlife, and human health.
The BFFPPA builds on existing statewide laws and provides a practical framework for reducing plastic waste. It is a significant step towards addressing the plastic pollution crisis and protecting both people and the planet. By passing the BFFPPA, Congress can take concrete action to mitigate the negative impacts of plastic on the environment and vulnerable communities.
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Plastic pollution is regulated by the EPA
The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States and sets quality standards for surface waters. The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters without a permit. The EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls these discharges.
Under the CWA, the EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. The EPA has also developed national water quality criteria recommendations for pollutants in surface waters. The EPA considers a wide range of pollutants—toxic, conventional, and nonconventional—when developing Effluent Guidelines.
The EPA has worked for decades to protect human health and the environment from air and water pollution and the mismanagement of solid and hazardous waste created throughout the materials' lifecycle. In recognition of the need to take further action to address plastic pollution, Congress passed the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act in December 2020. This act directed the EPA to develop a national strategy on plastic pollution.
The EPA's "National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution" presents opportunities for voluntary and regulatory actions by businesses, federal, tribal, state, local, and territorial governments. Together, these U.S. entities could eliminate the release of plastic waste from land and sea-based sources into the environment by 2040. The strategy includes interventions across the entire plastics lifecycle to reduce the U.S. contribution of plastic pollution into the environment.
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Plastic pollution is a contaminant of emerging concern
Plastic pollution is a pressing global issue with far-reaching consequences. The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the framework for regulating pollutant discharges into US waters and setting surface water quality standards. While the CWA does not specifically mention plastic as a pollutant, plastic pollution's impact on aquatic ecosystems is significant.
The production and use of plastic have increased exponentially since the 1950s, with approximately 359 million tons of virgin plastic produced annually. This surge in plastic usage has inadvertently led to the emergence of microplastics—plastic fragments less than 5 mm in length—as a contaminant of serious environmental concern. Microplastics are pervasive, found everywhere from Antarctica to deserts, and their minuscule size makes them challenging to remove once they contaminate the environment.
The presence of microplastics in the environment poses potential toxicity risks and has sparked growing public concern. They can originate from primary sources, such as pellets, nurdles, or fibres, which are already in the microplastic size range, or secondary sources, where they are formed from larger plastics that break down over time. An unexpected source of microplastic pollution has been identified in tea bags, where plastic materials are used to enhance the bag's integrity when steeped in hot liquid. Initial studies indicate that brewing tea with these synthetic materials releases significant volumes of microplastics.
The environmental implications of plastic pollution are profound, altering habitats and natural processes and reducing ecosystems' ability to adapt to climate change. It also directly impacts millions of people's livelihoods, food production, and social well-being. Plastic pollution affects people and the environment at every stage of its lifecycle, from extraction to disposal, with consequences for biodiversity, climate change, human health, and human rights. Vulnerable groups, including children, women, and marginalized communities, are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of plastic pollution, highlighting concerns of environmental injustice.
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Plastic molding and forming are regulated by the EPA
The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. Under the CWA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industries.
The EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls discharges from a point source into navigable waters. The Plastics Molding and Forming Effluent Guidelines and Standards (40 CFR Part 463) were promulgated by the EPA in 1984. These guidelines are incorporated into NPDES permits and cover direct dischargers—a point source that discharges pollutants into the waters of the United States, including streams, lakes, and oceans.
The plastics molding and forming (PM&F) industry uses plastic materials to produce a wide range of consumer and industrial products, including automobiles, appliances, electronics, construction materials, disposables, household furnishings, housewares, and medical products. Some molding and forming processes, such as extrusion and pelletizing, are used by plastic resin manufacturers to process crude intermediate plastic materials. These processes are regulated under the Organic Chemicals, Plastics and Synthetic Fibers category (OCPSF; 40 CFR Part 414).
The PM&F regulation also covers the coating of plastic material onto a formed metal substrate, which is not covered by specific metal-forming effluent guidelines such as those for aluminum, copper, and nonferrous metal forming. However, the PM&F regulation only applies to the coating process, while the prior forming operations are subject to specific metal-forming regulations.
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Frequently asked questions
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary Federal statute regulating the protection of the nation's water. The CWA aims to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution in the nation's water to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters.
The CWA considers toxic, conventional, and non-conventional pollutants. Toxic pollutants include disease-causing agents that cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions, and physical deformations in organisms or their offspring. Non-conventional pollutants are those not included in the list of conventional or toxic pollutants, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), nitrogen, and phosphorus.
The CWA prohibits the discharge of pollutants, including plastics, from any point source into waters without a permit. The CWA also addresses plastic pollution through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, which limit or prohibit discharges of contaminants, including plastics. In 2015, Congress passed the Microbead-Free Waters Act to ban plastic microbeads from rinse-off personal care products.
Some CWA requirements that may affect Federal facilities include:
- Section 303(d) and EPA water quality planning and management regulations, which require states to identify waters that do not meet or are expected to meet applicable water quality standards and establish a priority ranking for such waters.
- Section 316(b), which requires that the location, design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best technology available to minimize adverse environmental impact.
- The Oil Pollution Prevention regulation, which sets forth requirements for prevention, preparedness, and response to oil discharges at specific non-transportation-related facilities.
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