| The Clean Water Act is facing grave challenges during the recent economic downturn. These challenges, however, are very similar to those which spurred the enactment of the CWA in the first place. The spirit of the CWA is not being served by cooperative federalism, and something must change---and change quickly---in order to protect water quality and human health and welfare. After a background of the CWA, this paper will discuss the impact the economic recession has had on environmental issues, and will then analyze NPDES withdrawal petitions filed by private citizen groups who allege serious shortcomings in state implementation of NPDES. The paper concludes by arguing for an increased level of assistance to the states in implementing the NPDES program, including increasing the public's role in monitoring and data collecting and several structural changes to the CWA. |
