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Research Guides

Clean Water Act (CWA)

A guide to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA).

JACOB and JACOB+

JACOB is the Law Library's catalog, which includes books and journals. Search JACOB to find books and journals -- not articles -- in the collection of the Jacob Burns Law Library.

JACOB+ includes the GW Law Library's catalog as well as other materials and selected articles to which the Library has access. Please note that JACOB+ does not include all content from every database to which the Library subscribes, nor does it include articles that law students have access through GW's Gelman or Himmelfarb libraries. We recommend that you also search directly in the relevant research databases (for example, HeinOnline, Westlaw, Lexis) and consult our research guides.

Review our Tips for Searching to efficiently locate materials, including how to use the "Advanced Search" feature.

If you cannot find what you're looking for in JACOB, you may borrow items from the WRLC (Washington Research Library Consortium), place an Interlibrary Loan request, or suggest a purchase for the Law Library.

And be sure to Ask Us or visit us at the reference desk. We're here to help you succeed!

Search by Keyword

Useful keywords for searching within library catalogs, databases, and websites for information related to the clean water act include:

[Note: Using " " will retrieve content containing an exact phrase.]

  • antidegradation
  • biocriteria / "biological water quality"
  • "clean water"
  • "direct hydrological connection"
  • "effluent guidelines"
  • "fairly traceable" / "groundwater discharges" / "surface water'
  • "impaired waters" / "water pollution"
  • "national pollutant discharge elimination system" / NPDES
  • "navigable waters"
  • "point source" / "nonpoint source" / "nonpoint pollution"
  • "section 404 permits"
  • "stormwater discharges" / "stormwater pollution"
  • "total maximum daily load" / TMDL
  • "unitary waters"
  • "wastewater standards"
  • "water law" / "water rights"
  • "water quality" / "water quality standards" / "water quality criteria"
  • "waters of the US" / WOTUS / "nation's waters
  • watershed / wetlands