CWA Action Plan Implementation Priorities: Changes to Improve Water Quality, Increase Compliance and Expand Transparency

摘要

EPA, in consultation with a working group of state CWA agency representatives, has developed a suite of new approaches to revamp the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, compliance and enforcement program. These approaches are aimed at improving water quality by using 21st century information technology and best practices to more effectively and efficiently achieve greater pollution reductions at the universe of approximately one million NPDES water pollution sources. There are four key changes to how we implement the NPDES program: 1. Switch existing paper reporting to electronic reporting with automated compliance evaluations and improved transparency. 2. Create a new paradigm in which our regulations and permits compel compliance via public accountability, self-monitoring, electronic reporting and other methods. 3. Address the most serious water pollution problems by fundamentally re-tooling key NPDES permitting and enforcement practices, while continuing to vigorously enforce against serious violators. 4. Conduct comprehensive and coordinated permitting, compliance, and enforcement programs to improve state and EPA performance in protecting and improving water quality.