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<br />./ <br /> <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />A RIEPORT ON PROGRAM ACTIVITIES <br />DENVER REGIONAL COUNCIL OF GOVEAI\~MENTS <br /> <br />i <br /> <br />Two-Year Section 208 Project- <br /> <br />Water Quality Planning Progresses <br /> <br />,. <br />, <br /> <br />Development of a water quality planning <br />program, begun in March 1975 by DRCOG, is <br />about one-third complete. The $1,250,000 project <br />will help the region comply with Section 208 of <br />the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. <br />DRCOG was named the region's water quality <br />planning agency by former Governor John <br />Vanderhoof in July 1974, for the five-county <br />Denver area. <br />c-1 Upon completion in March 1977, the plan will <br />(!'l be suhmitted by DRCOG to the governor for <br />cPcertification. Following that action, it. will be used <br />~y the Environmental Protection Agency (EP A) to <br />assess regional applications .for federal gran ts de- <br />signed to abate water pollution. <br /> <br />j <br /> <br />Far Reaching Law <br />Considered one of the most far-reaching <br />environmental measures enacted by Congress, the <br />Act, officially known as Public Law 92-500, was <br />approved October 18, 1972. It represents an effort <br />to eliminate inadequacies found in previous federal <br />and state statutes. <br />The new law creates a program based on three <br />major elements: uniform nationwide. standards, <br />enforceable regulations, and a permit program <br />based on effluent limits and geared to specific <br />goals. <br /> <br />Major Objectives of the Act <br /> <br />The primary aim of the Act is to "restore and <br />maintain the. chemical. physical and biological <br />integrity of the nation's waters." By July 1983. <br />wherever possihle. water quality is to be suitable <br />for recrerltional contact and for protection and <br />propagation of fish and wildlife. <br /> <br />By July 1985, the Act establishes a national goal <br />to eliminate discharges of pollutants. <br />In addition, the Act emphasizes the special need <br />for controlling or eliminating discharges of toxic <br />pollutants. <br />These national goals wiII be implemented by two <br />programs. The first is an expanded system of <br />federal grants to plan and construct publicly <br />owned wastewnter treatment plants. Secondly. a <br />permit program will be geared to restricting <br />pollutant discharges from point sources - that is, <br />from factories, municipalities and large agricultural <br />operations where pollutants enter the waters <br />through an outfall pipe, sewer or other conduit. <br />In addition to controlling point-source pollu- <br />tion, the Act authorizes major research and <br />demonstration projects to work toward the goal of <br />eliminating pollutants from storm runoff, acid <br />mine drainage and other non.point sources. <br /> <br />Effluent Limitations <br />An effluent Iimit.ntion is a maximum allowable <br />rate of discharge. concentration or amount of a <br />pollutant which may be released from a point, or <br />identifiable source into any body of water. <br />Under previous water pollution legislation, the <br />water pollution control authorities looked into the <br />quality of lakes, rivers, and streams - rather than <br />to the pollutants being discharged into them - as <br />the basis for abatement 'illd enforcement action. <br />This procedure required that states analyze the <br />water, determine the sources of pollution. and <br />develop an implementation' plan to restrict <br />pollutant discharges. <br />Carrying out this last. procedure, however, was <br />nearly impossible for states because federal <br />regulations on how or whether to restrict pollutant <br />