A Cure for the Nation's Water Pollution Problem: Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act

Our Nations waters -- our most precious natural resource -- are rapidly being transformed into a vast, rancid sewer. Scarcely an uncontaminated body of water, mostly untreated, pours into our waterways from farms, factories, and cities. And despite Administration claims of progress, the situation is getting worse. Present Government programs are hopelessly inadequate. The preceding comments describe the state of our nations waters and water pollution control efforts in the early 1970s. This paper discusses federal and state implementation of the water quality-based strategy. It focuses on the development and implementation of water quality standards-based limitations namely, total maximum daily loads or TMDLs under section 303d. It addresses the impact of such limitations on entities and activities that generate water pollution.