Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water

Clean Water: The Environmental Enforcement Section brings civil cases in federal courts to enforce the Clean Water Act, which Congress enacted “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.” The Act protects our nation’s streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans from pollution, making it unlawful to discharge a pollutant into such waters without a permit. Our Clean Water Act cases typically seek a court order to require compliance with the Act, as well as a civil penalty for the violations. These cases involve discharges of chemicals from industrial operations, untreated sewage discharges from municipal wastewater systems, and uncontrolled stormwater runoff from construction sites.

Safe Drinking Water: The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the key federal law for protecting public water supplies from harmful contaminants. The act is administered through programs that establish standards and treatment requirements for public water supplies, promote compliance capacity of public water systems, provide technical assistance to small water systems, control the underground injection of fluids, finance infrastructure projects, and protect sources of drinking water. The SDWA established a Federal-State arrangement in which States may be delegated primary implementation and enforcement authority (i.e., primacy) for the drinking water program. EPA and DOJ get involved when States are not enforcing the requirements, or when a State’s enforcement efforts have been unsuccessful. The Environmental Enforcement Section has brought cases where drinking water was exceeding limits for contaminants such as nitrates (which can be dangerous for children and pregnant women), arsenic, and lead.