Litigation Case Study: Daily Pollution Limits in Our Rivers

by Jennifer Chavez, Attorney, Earthjustice

Have you ever gone out to enjoy a paddle or a walk along the shores of one of our local streams, particularly in the days after a storm, and found yourself discouraged at the state of the water?  Perhaps as your hands dipped into the water along with your paddle, you wondered whether the oils, chemicals, and other urban runoff were endangering your health.  Perhaps you spotted one our area’s rare eagles and wondered whether  it too is being exposed to all this urban gunk.

For years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that these pollution incidents are okay, as long as the waters were, on average over the course of the year, meeting water quality requirements.  Members of the Anacostia Riverkeeper, Potomac Riverkeeper, and Friends of the Earth thought this was wrong, and took the issue to court.  Represented by Earthjustice, they filed a lawsuit under a provision of the Clean Water Act that requires EPA to adopt pollution limits called “total maximum daily loads” for waters that are impaired – like the Potomac River, Rock Creek, and Anacostia River are – by pollution from urban runoff and combined sewer overflows.

Earlier this year, a court ruled that EPA must not only adopt these legally required “daily” pollution limits, but must do so within a set schedule.  As a result, the District’s waters will soon be covered by daily pollution limits for bacteria, metals, and harmful organic compounds.  This was a simple but important win for all of us who treasure our local water resources and want to see them restored within our lifetime.