Clean Water Act; Section 404
The Clean Water Act: A Victory in Progress
When Ohio's Cuyahoga River burst into flames in 1969, Americans were shocked by the vision of a waterway so polluted it could foster an inferno. From the ashes came the Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972. Its goals: All water bodies should be safe for fishing and swimming by 1983, there should be no more direct discharge of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985, and there should be no toxic pollutants released in toxic amounts. Also included were provisions to conserve and protect wetlands, long regarded by the general public as slimy swamps and homes to creepy critters, but which had finally won recognition as water filters, flood controllers and habitat for plants and wildlife, including many threatened and endangered species.
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act establishes a program to regulate the discharge of dredged and fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands. Activities in waters of the United States that are regulated under this program include fills for development, water resource project (such as dams and levees), infrastructure development (such as highways, and airports), and conversion of wetlands to upload for forming and forestry.
To destroy a wetlands one must have a permit. But, before one can get a permit they must have three things, that they have:
- taken steps to avoid wetlands impacts where practicable
- minimized potential impacts to wetlands
- provided compensation for any remaining unavoidable impacts through activities to restore or create wetlands.
There are two basic types of permits. An individual permit is usually required for potentially significant impacts. But, for most discharges that will have minimal effects, the Army Corps of Engineers often grants up front general permits. This can be issued on a notion wide, regional, or state basis for assortments of activities, such as minor road crossings, utility line backfill, and bedding.
The strict enforcement of section 404 has led to the practice of requiring that a wetland system be built to replace any wetlands lost in development, such as the building of highways. Constructed wetlands are built with the idea that they will replace the wetland "function" lost by the development usually in the same or an adjacent watershed. They are designed to be at least the same size as the lost wetlands.