Still Dirty After Twenty-Five Years: Water Quality Standard Enforcement and the Availability of Citizen Suits

The Clean Water Act (1972) established technology-based controls to meet water quality standards (WQSs). The failure of the Act to support the enforcement of these WQSs is evident in this analysis of the Act and its provisions, and in the data from major national water sources. The potential for direct citizen enforcement is evaluated from court cases, and the potential for such actions to be permitted as public policy is considered. An analysis of court records and legal precedents indicates that citizen suits are viable only when the NPDES permit mandates WQS compliance. Within this limited scope citizen enforcement could include water quality.