Facts

Did you know?

The federal government has established a national commitment to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s water.

Those federal regulations were established in 1972 and are called The Clean Water Act.

30 years of regulation and water pollution is still a big problem in the United States.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) implements the Clean Water Act by providing guidance to the States.

Each state develops their own standards for water quality, while partnering with the EPA.

Polluted stormwater runoff is commonly transported through municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), and then often discharged, untreated, into local water bodies.

An MS4 is a conveyance or system of conveyances that is:

• owned by a state, city, town, village, or other public entity that discharges to waters of the U.S.,
• designed or used to collect or convey stormwater (e.g., storm drains, pipes, ditches),
• not a combined sewer, and
• not part of a sewage treatment plant, or publicly owned treatment works (POTW).