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Nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution regulations are environmental regulations that restrict or limit water pollution from diffuse or nonpoint effluent sources such as polluted runoff from agricultural areas in a river catchments or wind-borne debris blowing out to sea. In the United States, governments have taken a number of legal and ...
Although this is a point source, due to the distributional nature, long-range transport, and multiple sources of the pollution, it can be considered as nonpoint source in the depositional area. Atmospheric inputs that affect runoff quality may come from dry deposition between storm events and wet deposition during storm events.
TMDL is the end product of all point and non-point source pollutants of a single contaminant. Pollutants that originate from a point source are given allowable levels of contaminants to be discharged; this is the waste load allocation (WLA). Nonpoint source pollutants are also calculated into the TMDL equation with load allocation (LA). [7]
The Clean Water Act has made great strides in reducing point source water pollution, but this effect is overshadowed by the fact that nonpoint source pollution, which is not subject to regulation under the Act, has correspondingly increased. [41] One of the solutions to address this imbalance is point/nonpoint source trading of pollutants.
Nonpoint source pollution is the most common type of pollution because as rainfall runs off of land on its path to different water sources, it becomes contaminated by pollutants from the surrounding area. These sources include agriculture related pollutants, urban runoff, or drainage. The CWA does not authorize the issuance of NPDES permits for ...
Amendments in 1977 required stricter regulation of toxic pollutants. [18] In 1987 Congress expanded NPDES permit coverage to include municipal and industrial stormwater discharges. [19] The Act also requires use of best management practices for a wide range of other water discharges including nonpoint source pollution. [20]
States can directly shape federal policy in the way states choose to enforce, or not enforce, environmental regulation. Federal regulation of nonpoint source water pollution is often cited as weak, in part because localities often lack the incentive to enforce federal regulations, and federal enforcers do not have the authority to countermand ...
The CWA definition is excluded for sewage discharged from certain classes of vessels, meaning that a common and important class of water pollution is, by definition, not considered a pollutant for purposes of the United States' primary water quality law. [3] (See Regulation of ship pollution in the United States.)