Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Water pollution was identified as a growing problem in the US by scientists, government officials and the public in the 19th century. Many cities and towns piped their untreated domestic sewage into nearby waterways. Wastewater discharged by factories, mines and other businesses increased as the economy expanded.
Water pollution is the contamination of natural water bodies by chemical, physical, radioactive or pathogenic microbial substances. [ 2] Point sources of water pollution are described by the CWA as "any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance from which pollutants are or may be discharged." These include pipes or man-made ditches from ...
The Clean Water Act ( CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibilities of the states in addressing pollution and providing assistance to states to do so, including ...
Nonpoint sources are the most significant single source of water pollution in the United States, accounting for almost half of all water pollution, and agricultural runoff is the single largest source of nonpoint source water pollution. This water pollution has a number of detrimental effects on human health and the environment.
Pollution prevention ( P2) is a strategy for reducing the amount of waste created and released into the environment, particularly by industrial facilities, agriculture, or consumers. Many large corporations view P2 as a method of improving the efficiency and profitability of production processes through waste reduction and technology ...
Although water quality is usually sampled and analyzed at laboratories, since the late 20th century there has been increasing public interest in the quality of drinking water provided by municipal systems. Many water utilities have developed systems to collect real-time data about source water quality.
Groundwater is often cheaper, more convenient and less vulnerable to pollution than surface water. Therefore, it is commonly used for public water supplies. For example, groundwater provides the largest source of usable water storage in the United States, and California annually withdraws the largest amount of groundwater of all the states. [2]
Signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 5, 1990. The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 ( PPA) is a United States federal law that created a national policy to promote the prevention of pollution or reduction at pollution sources wherever possible. [1] The law also expanded the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a waste reporting ...