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Water Pollution

Understanding

Understanding

The
phrase “navigable waters” is written all over the Clean Water Act. In
the Clean Water Act, Navigable Waters is defined as any water with significant
passage to navigable waters are covered by the US Clean Water Act. The
definition of navigable water pursuant to the Clean Water Act is known for its
lack of clarity. 

Businesses and vessels that dump their refuse into a body
of water need to know what waters are and are not covered by the Clean Water
Act. The Clean Water Act broadly defines which bodies of water apply. The
Phrase “navigable water”  is connected to the idea of waters
with significant nexus to waters that are easily traveled by boat.

Essentially,
this means any body of water that empties to larger bodies of water that allow
for boat travel. The navigable water clause of the Clean Water Act has been the
source of many headaches over the years as businesses dumped toxic pollutants
into bodies of water they believed were not connected to navigable water. The
clause provides positive defense against violations of the Clean Water Act.

A
lawyer, on behalf of the polluting company, can argue that the body of water
into which the toxic substances were dumped did not have significant enough
connections to major maritime travel routes. 

The navigable water act remained unclear until 2006. In a
contentious 5-4 decision, in the case of Rapanos v. United States, the Supreme
Court had trouble deciding the proper definition of wetlands. In 1989,
landowner John A. Rapanos backfilled wetlands on a parcel of land that he
owned.

The 54 acre parcel of land that he owned had saturated soil sometimes
that would form after a series of rainstorms. The nearest major body of water
was approximately 11 miles away. The EPA defined the water on Rapanos’ land as
“waters of the United States.” As waters of the United States,
Rapanos would need an EPA permit to back fill his small body of water in
Michigan. Rapanos possibly faced time in jail for his refusal to be use a
permit to backfill his own wetlands.

The Court struggled to define Rapanos
wetlands as having significant enough connections to navigable water. The Clean
Water Act, as written in 2006, included non-continuous and minor bodies of
water such as intermittent streams, wetlands, sloughs, and prairie potholes.

Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the majority opinion; he defined navigable
waters as “only those relatively permanent, standing, or continuously
flowing bodies of water forming geographic features commonly known as lakes,
streams, oceans, and rivers. The Court decided that this was the only
reasonable definition of “significant nexus to navigable water”

Violations of the Clean Water Act

Violations of the Clean Water Act

The
effects of water pollution have serious ramifications in addition to the
penalties and fines the EPA will impose on those who violated. Water pollution
is everywhere. Even desert states like Arizona and New Mexico have their fair
share of Clean Water Act violations.

In coal mining country, West Virginia,
there are several cases in which the drinking water is so toxic that it has
ruined peoples’ teeth. The effects of water pollution from coal mining and the
refinement of Coal have taken a toll on the health of West Virginians in the
coal mining counties.

These West Virginians have to apply a special lotion
after showering to avoid getting chemical burns from the polluted Water. Some
of these affected areas are not in some remote corner of the state, but near
the state capital of Charleston. Some West Virginians have to travel to the
next county or the county department of health to fill up their used milk jugs
for usable water.

Think about it, humans use water for drinking, brushing
teeth, showering, bathing, swimming, and washing clothing. Water is one of the
most important resources. Therefore, any violation of the Clean Water Act is to
be considered a serious offense not only against other people but to the
aquatic life on which people depend.

Saving the whales is not a cliche of the
environmental movement, the environment is shared by every living thing that
exists on this planet. Water is important. NASA scientists that are searching
for extraterrestrial life are looking for planets with water as a sign of
potential life. This fact should speak volumes of the effects of water
pollution.

Industrialization and modern living produces pollution and certain
technologies would be hard to live without; however, the water pollution facts
are frightening. The statistics are not only statistics, they are humans and
animals that have become sick as a result of water pollution. 

Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Texas are the have the most
recorded cases of Clean Water Act Violations. All of these states have mixed
economies of major cities, agriculture, and major waterways. Water pollution
facts on violations related to agriculture come from failures to curb pesticide
and herbicide runoff.

The EPA has certain levels of runoff that are acceptable
in the environment. Agricultural runoff is one of the hardest forms of water
pollution to control. Urban runoff is even harder to control because there is
no one to hold accountable for cars with leaky radiators and oil lines.
 Those
chemicals runoff into the environment and show the horrible effects of water
pollution.

Pharmaceuticals that were improperly disposed have been proven to
make fix unable to reproduce. Water Pollution facts have also linked water
pollution with malformed frogs living in Minnesota ponds and lakes.  

Water pollution facts can be researched. There are too
many cases of Clean Water Act violations that have resulted in irreparable
damages to the genetic makeup of countless species. People have been adversely
affected and a slap-on-the wrist fine does not sound bad after all the damage
that is done.