Chapter 15
Improving Water Quality: Controlling
Point and Nonpoint Sources
© 2004 Thomson Learning/South-Western
Controlling Point Sources: Effluent
Limitations
 Overview of the Effluent Limits and National Permits
 Effluent Limitations – instituted through the Federal
Water pollution Act (FWPCA) of 1972
 Technology-based effluent limitations – standards to
control discharges from point sources based primarily
on technological capability
 Direct industrial discharges – release their wastes into
surface waters without any intermediary
 Permit System
 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) – a federally mandated permit system used to
control effluent releases from direct industrial
discharges and POTWs
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Controlling Point Sources: Effluent
Limitations
 Technology-Based Effluent Limitations for
Direct Industrial Dischargers
Effluent limitations are more accurately termed
performance based standards
Standards are source dependent
New source – one whose construction begun after
proposed regulations had been announced
Existing source – one whose construction begun
before proposed regulations had been announced
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Analysis of Effluent Limitations on Point
Sources
 Administrative Delays
Over the past 25 years, the EPA’s track record has
been slow in developing and revising effluent
guidelines, which are the basis for the federal
limitations
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Analysis of Effluent Limitations on Point
Sources
 Imprecise and Inconsistent Definitions
Fundamental problem with effluent limitations is
that they are not aligned with the nation’s objectives
Water quality-related limitations – modified effluent
limits to be met if the desired water quality level is
not being achieved even if polluters are satisfying
the technology-based limits
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Analysis of Effluent Limitations on Point
Sources
 Meeting the Zero Discharge Goal
Overly ambitious
Inefficient objective
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Analysis of Effluent Limitations on Point
Sources
 Absence of Economic Decision Rules
Lack of an Efficiency Criterion
Provisions offer no guidance as to how they are to
be used in decision making
Lack of precision in the reference to benefits and
costs
Cost-Ineffective Decision Making
Under the Clean Water Act, the uniformity of the
effluent limits prevents a cost-effective outcome
Lack of a reward system for efficient abaters to
reduce effluents beyond legal limits
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Waste Treatment Management and the
Potw Program
 The Pre-1987 Federal Grant Program
Federal grant program – provided major funding
from the federal government for a share of the
construction costs of POTWs
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Waste Treatment Management and the
Potw Program
 Shift to the State Revolving Fund (SRF)
Program in 1987
State Revolving Fund (SRF) program – establishes
state lending programs to support POTW
construction and other projects
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Analysis of the POTW Funding Program
 Assessing the Accomplishments Attributable
to Federal Subsidies
Argument that federal subsidies have been effective
because municipal waste treatment has progressed
measurably is falsely motivated
An increasing percentage of the population is
served by facilities using at least secondary
treatment
Observed improvement in wastewater treatment
cannot be attributed fully to the grant program
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Analysis of the POTW Funding Program
 Inefficiencies in the Federal Grant Program
Lack of Incentives
Policy Response
Equity Implications
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Controlling Nonpoint Sources
 Nonpoint Source Management Program – a
three-stage, state implemented plan aimed at
nonpoint source pollution
Best management practices (BMP) – strategies
other than effluent limitations to reduce pollution
from nonpoint sources
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Controlling Nonpoint Sources
 Devising and Updating a Framework
In 1989, the EPA developed its Nonpoint Source
Agenda for the Future to help define national goals
for nonpoint source pollution and to find
appropriate mechanisms to achieve them
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Controlling Nonpoint Sources
 Watershed Approach
Watershed – land areas that drain into a particular
water body
Attending to the watershed allows public officials to
gain a better sense of the overall environmental
conditions in an area
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Analysis of Controls on Nonpoint
Sources
 Delegating Control to the States: The Pros
Variability of Nonpoint Source Pollution
Land Use Practices
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Analysis of Controls on Nonpoint
Sources
 Delegating Control to the States: The Cons
Information Deficiencies
Poor Monitoring Systems
Inconsistent Controls
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Analysis of Controls on Nonpoint
Sources
 Analyzing the Federal Role in Nonpoint
Source Controls
Resource Allocation
Federal funds are needed to fill information voids
about nonpoint source pollution
Coordination with Other National Programs
Conflict between water quality objectives and other
regulations needs to be resolved at federal level
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Proposals for Reform: Using the Market
 Market Approaches to Point Source Pollution
Effluent Fees
Volume-based effluent fee – a fee based on the
quantity of pollution discharged
Pollutant-based effluent fee – a fee based on the
degree of harm associated with the contaminant
being released
Tradeable Effluent Permits
Tradeable effluent permit market – the exchange of
rights to pollute among water polluting sources
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Proposals for Reform: Using the Market
Figure 15.2 Cost-Effectiveness of a Per Unit Effluent Fee
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Proposals for Reform: Using the Market
Figure 15.3 Inefficiency of a National Per Unit Effluent Fee
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Proposals for Reform: Using the Market
 Market Approaches to Nonpoint Source Pollution
 Product Charge – fee added to the price of a pollution
generating product based on its quantity of some
attribute responsible for pollution
 Effluent Reduction Trading Within a
 Effluent reduction trading policy – establishes an abatement
objective for a watershed and allows sources to negotiate
trades for rights to pollute
 Effluent reduction credits – tradeable permits issued if a
polluter discharges a lower level of effluents than what is
attained by law
 Effluent allowances – tradeable permits issued up-front that
give a polluter the right to release effluents in the future
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