An Arkansas Producer's Guide to the Clean Water Act
32 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2013
Date Written: May 22, 2013
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to explore the CWA’s regulatory impact on Arkansas’s agricultural producers. This article will discuss in the subsections below: 1) the jurisdiction and waters covered by the CWA; 2) the broad definition that has been given to the term “pollutant” by the courts and how some agricultural activities qualify as a “pollutant”; 3) point source and non-point sources of agricultural pollution; 4) the two types of CWA permits, National Pollution Discharge System (NPDES) permits and Section 404 permits that may be relevant for agricultural producers; and 5) the statutory requirement that certain animal feeding operations are required in certain situations to apply for a NPDES permit. The regulatory requirements on these animal feeding operation operators will be discussed to give these operators a better understanding the duties placed on them under the CWA.
Keywords: CWA, Clean Water Act, CAFO, Arkansas, Agriculture
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