Clean Water Enforcement Report Card: How Nine States' Regulations Measure Up

Publication Date: July 2003

Publisher: PIRGIM Education Fund

Author(s): William Coyne; Brian Imus

Research Area: Environment

Keywords: water pollution; environmental enforcement

Type: Report

Coverage: Michigan

Abstract:

Thirty years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, America's waterways remain polluted. The problem is not the lack of clean water laws, but the lack of enforcement of those laws. Polluters face little threat of penalty if they violate the law--largely due to varying enforcement policies and practices among state environmental agencies. A Clean Water Enforcement Report Card presents the results of a 2003 survey of nine states, finding that many do not possess the proper laws and regulations needed to ensure full enforcement of the Clean Water Act.