The Clean Water Act (CWA), signed into law in 1972 under the Nixon Administration, is the primary federal law governing water pollution in the United States. Administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in tandem with state governments, its primary aim is simple: to restore and maintain the integrity of our nation’s waters.

In the decade prior to the passing of this landmark law, Americans collectively realized the damage human actions had done to our waterways through careless industrial pollution and the discharge of raw sewage into those sources.

Some may remember the notorious 1969 Cuyahoga River Fire in Cleveland, although many may not realize that the river, where hotspots of industrial activity were situated, caught fire no less than a dozen times. As a result of pollution from food processing plants nearby, more than 26 million fish were killed off in a single lake in Florida in 1969. And as the Allegheny Front recently reported, due to industrial pollution and the untreated discharge of sewage into the Delaware River up until the 1960s, a “dead zone” of more than 25 miles was created. This made it impossible for wildlife like fish to survive and, due to decomposing bacteria that gave off noxious fumes, made the river and surrounding areas stink.

Managed through a series of pollution control strategies and programs, the law makes it illegal to discharge any pollutant from a point source (a single point of origin, like a pipe) into navigable United States waterways and territorial seas unless the appropriate permit is obtained. The EPA has established the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, which is locally imposed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP).

As a public organization whose mission it is to protect public health and the environment through the delivery of safe and reliable water services, all of us at PWSA are responsible for ensuring we operate in compliance with the CWA and help protect our waters.

PWSA is required to comply with our NPDES permit for discharges of wastewater and stormwater associated with industrial activity. This permit includes activities at our Water Treatment Plant and other remote sites that have point source discharges to the Allegheny River. Through best practices, PWSA reduces pollutants that may be picked up by rainfall or snowmelt, and monitors our plant equipment to limit wastewater production.

As another example, we are co-permitees with the City of Pittsburgh for a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit. This permit requires that we follow specific regulations and implement practices to reduce pollutants in our separate storm sewer system.

That also means implementing a plan to ultimately reduce discharge of pollutants into waterways. This is managed under six Minimum Control Measures focused on public education and outreach, illicit discharge detection and elimination, pollution prevention and good housekeeping practices in our operations, and more.

As one last example, last year we established a formal Environmental Compliance and Ethics Program. The program is multi-faceted and made up of various components, including a whistleblower system, annual training, and a robust set of policies and procedures, placing environmental compliance and ethics front-of-mind in everything we do.

Be sure to check out this issue of Currents for more information celebrating the CWA and detaling how PWSA is helping to protect our waters, the environment, and public health.