EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

In addition to these changes, climate change may affect agriculture and other land development
as rainfall and temperature patterns shift. Aquatic nuisance species invasions are also likely to
change over time, as oceans warm and ecosystems become less resilient to disturbances.
Clean Water Act
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C §1251 et seq.), is the
principal law concerned with polluting activity in streams, lakes and estuaries in the United
States. The original 1948 statute was totally rewritten in 1972 (P. L. 92-500) to produce its
current purpose: “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the
Nation's waters.” Congress made substantial amendment to the Clean Water Act in the Water
Quality Act of 1987 (P. L. 100-4) in response to the significant and persistent water quality
problems.
The Clean Water Act uses two primary approaches to achieve its goal. The first approach uses
regulations to achieve a goal of zero discharge of pollutants into waters of the United States. The
second approach provides Federal technical assistance for municipal wastewater treatment
construction. Both approaches are supported by research activities, permits and provisions for
enforcement.
To achieve its objectives, the Clean Water Act prohibits all discharges into the nation’s waters,
unless they are specifically authorized by a permit. For example, the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System or NPDES program regulates discharges of pollutants like
bacteria, oxygen-consuming materials, and toxic pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, and
other organic chemicals.
Most of these Federal programs are administered by EPA, while state and local governments
have the principal day-to-day responsibility for implementing the law. Nonpoint sources of
water pollution, which are believed to be responsible for the majority of modern water quality
problems in the United States, are not subject to Clean Water Act permits or the regulatory
requirements. Instead, non-point sources of pollution are regulated by State programs.
Puget Sound as an Example of the Impact
Puget Sound provides and illustrative example of the impacts of the environmental baseline on
endangered and threatened species under NMFS’ jurisdiction. Between 2000 and 2006, counties
in Puget Sound increased by 315,965 people or by more than 50,000 people per year, with
associated increases in the area of impervious surface and population density per square mile of
impervious surface in the Puget Sound region (Puget Sound Action Team 2007). Between 1991
and 2001, the area of impervious surface in the Puget Sound basin increased 10.4 percent (Puget
Sound Action Team, 2007). By 2001, impervious surface covered 7.3 percent of the Puget
Sound region below 1,000 feet elevation; in some counties and watersheds in the region, this
area was substantially higher.
Over the same time interval, about 190 square miles of forest (about 2.3 percent of the total
forested area of the Puget Sound basin) was converted to other uses. In areas below 1,000 feet
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