Point Source Pollution

Following the passage of legislation in the 1960s and 1970s aimed at cleaning the air and waters in the United States, rigorous efforts have [Page 1378]focused on point source pollution control. The term identifies sources of pollution that emanate from a discreet and clearly identifiable point. The Environmental Protection Agency lists the following structures that fit the definition: pipes, ditches, channels, tunnels, conduits, wells, rolling stock concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO), landfill leachate collection systems, water-borne vessels from which pollutants may be discharged.

Point source is distinguished from “non-point” source pollution, such as precipitation runoff from an urban area that is not caught in a sewer system, or agricultural pollution from the seepage into the soil of fertilizers and insecticides. Discharge from a power plant smoke ...