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Many federal laws are concerned with the area of water management: flood control, drinking water, water quality, water supply, hydroelectric power, land conservation and reclamation, recreation, research and other water-related progr;!lms. In addition, financial and other assistance is frequently provided to encourage similar programs at the state and local levels. Water and the Federal Government THE LAWS Federal laws directed toward solving the problems of supply, management and quality have impact in Colorado. Many of the earlier laws dealt with flood control or navigation, but in 1899 the Rivers and Harbors Act included a provision known as the Refuse Act. One of the first national efforts to controi the quality of streams, the Refuse Act prohibits dumping or discharging pollutants into navigable waters. A number of water pollution control acts were passed over the next seventy years aimed at reducing the pollution of interstate waters. Federal assistance for the construction of sewage treatment plants was made available to states and municipalities beginning in 1956. For the first time, all waters of the United States were included in the Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972 which set a goal of Page 10 cleaning up the nation's waters by 1983 and zero discharge of pollutants by 1985. Deadlines and enforcement procedures applied to federal, state and local governments and to industries. The amount of federal aid to construct treatment piants and for states to administer the law was significantly increased. A new system of permits for discharges into the nation's waters replaced the permit program of the 1899 Refuse Act. No pollutants may be discharged from any point source without a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or from states which have an EPA approved permit program. In 1977 Congress amended the 1972 Act. While the major objectives of the legislation were retained, municipal and industrial deadlines for compliance were postponed. Control of toxic pollutants was emphasized and state control of municipal waste treatment measures was stengthened. The 1977 amendments clarified provisions for the issuance of permits by the Army Corps of Engineers reguiating dredge and fill discharges for the protection of water quality, especially in wetlands. EPA may delegate this permit authority to the states, except for navigable waters and their adjacent wetlands where the Corps retains authority. Congress again retained the major objectives of the 1972 and 1977 Acts when it passed the Water Quality Act of 1987. Whiie it is still an ultimate goal to eliminate all pollutant discharges, no date is set. Deadlines for compliance were extended to 1989 for municipal and industrial discharges. The 1987 Act replaced direct federal aid with state revolving loan funds established by federal and state contributions. Money can be borrowed from the fund to help finance local sewage treatment plant construction. State management programs for non-point sources of pollution will receive technical assistance funds. The Safe Drinking Water Act, first passed in 1974 was amended in 1977 and 1980. Standards for the quality of drinking water and enforcement procedures were mandated and injection of fluids Into aquifers was regulated. In 1986 the Act was amended requiring public water systems to monitor for many additional heavy metal and chemical contaminants for which EPA is required to set the maximum levels allowed in drinking water. Specific treatment methods can be required for removal of contaminants and protection of areas surrounding public supply water wells is encouraged. The Reclamation Act of 1902 set the stage for federal involvement in the construction of water storage projects in the western states. Since then many projects have been financed and buiit in Colorado by the Bureau of Reclamation. Two of the five western Colorado projects authorized by the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act have been constructed. Another one of the five, Animas-La Plata near Durango, may receive federal funding for a scaled down version of the original proposal. In 1968 the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act declared that selected rivers and their environs should be maintained in their natural state. One Colorado river. the canyon portion of the Cache La Poudre in northern Colorado, has received . designation as a Wild and Scenic River. Many other federal laws affect water resources. Diverse programs, regulations and statutes deal with flood control, recreation, conservation, agriculture, fish and wildlife, municipalities and industry.