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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 ...
Nonpoint source pollution is the leading cause of water pollution in the United States today, with polluted runoff from agriculture and hydromodification the primary sources. [ 44 ] : 15 [ 21 ] Regulation of Nonpoint Source Pollution in the United States
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 ...
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.
One U.S. water news organization stressed that, while the rule was an update to the CWA, there is still a need for more regulation since more than half of the nation's streams and rivers do not meet standards and most pollution issues come from nonpoint sources, such as agricultural runoff. [23]
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]
The regulations set forth create a compromise regarding a variety of pollution regulation strategies. The United States mainly follows the end-of-pipe prevention strategy. However, US President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, and one of its principal missions was to regulate pollution.