Lesson 3: Identifying Threatened and Impaired Waters

The Clean Water Act requires each state to identify its polluted water bodies and to set priorities for cleaning them up. Water bodies qualify for the “impaired waters list” when they are too polluted or otherwise degraded to support their designated and existing uses. This list -- also known as the 303(d) list -- is important. If your river needs restoration and cleanup, being on the 303(d) list helps direct funds, agency resources and public attention to development of a cleanup plan (TMDL) and implementation activities.

Local Story

Volunteer monitoring helps identify problems and improve clean-up

The Beachkeeper program is a volunteer water quality monitoring program that involves the local community in identifying and monitoring sources of urban runoff in Santa Monica Bay. Data collected by these volunteers helped identify the Bay as impaired, and was critical to the design of the cleanup plan.

All Stories & Alerts

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