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Environmental tax, as an essential part of China's green tax reform, plays a key role in promoting the construction of an ecological society. To empirically test the policy effect of environmental taxes, this study used the panel data from 274 prefecture-level cities for the period 2012-2020 to explore whether the implementation of environmental tax can reduce the intensity of industrial water pollution. The main results are as follows: (1) The implementation of environmental tax can significantly reduce the emission of industrial water pollution, and the policy effect has shown a persistent trend. (2) In terms of heterogeneity, we find that the impact of environmental tax on reducing industrial water pollution is higher in central-western regions. (3) Mechanism analysis shows that the policy effect of environmental tax is mainly through channels such as enhancing law enforcement rigidity and improving local green innovation. Our findings provide new evidence for understanding the green dividend effect of environmental tax and provide significant policy implications for China's ecological society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the Senate Bill 712, also known as the Clean Waterways Act, passed by the legislature in Florida in 2020. It tackles the requirements of the Act to the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and water management districts, the initiation of rule development by the DEP, the establishment of a Technical Advisory Committee by the DEP, and the statement of estimated regulatory costs to be prepared by agencies.

Biological treatment in wastewater treatment plants appears to be one of the most crucial factors in water quality management and planning. Though, measuring this important factor is challenging, and obtaining reliable results requires significant effort. However, the use of artificial neural network (ANN) modeling can help to more reliably and cost-effectively monitor the pollutant characteristics of wastewater treatment plants and regulate the processing of these pollutants. To create an artificial neural network model, a study of the Samsun Eastern Advanced Biological WWTP was carried out. It provides a laboratory simulation and prediction option for flexible treatment process simulations. The models were created to forecast influent features that would affect effluent quality metrics. For ANN models, the correlation coefficients RTRAINING and RALL are more than 0.8080. The MSE, RMSE, and MAPE were less than 0.8704. The model's results showed compliance with the permitted wastewater quality standards set forth in the Turkish water pollution control law for the environment where the treated wastewater is discharged. This is a useful tool for plant management to enhance the quality of the treatment while enhancing the facility's dependability and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, under the background of vigorously promoting environmental governance, the implementation effect of the central environmental protection inspection is an issue of great concern to the government and the public. This paper systematically investigates the impact of central environmental protection inspection on the risk of stock price crash using a sample of listed firms in polluting industries. The results show that compared with non-supervised areas, central environmental protection inspection can reduce the polluting industries' firms' stock price crash risk by reducing stock price bubbles. After a series of robustness tests, the results still held. The above transmission mechanism is more effective in the samples of private enterprises, low information transparency and disclosure quality enterprises, non-national civilized urban areas, and high promotion incentive areas. Furthermore, this paper found that there were differences in the effects of central environmental protection inspection in different batches. Among the effects of central environmental protection inspection in different batches, the effect of environmental regulation in the second, third, and fourth batches was better, and the effect of central environmental protection inspection in different batches gradually deepened. Finally, by analyzing the environmental governance of the central environmental protection inspection, it is found that the central environmental protection inspection has significant short-term and long-term control effect in air pollution governance, and it is still necessary to strengthen the law enforcement in water pollution governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand the sources of pollutants and the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the water quality in Cihu Lake, China, the monitoring data of seven water quality indicators from 12 sampling sites from 2015 to 2019 were selected, and the temporal and spatial variation laws of the water quality and pollution sources were analyzed by the use of the multivariate statistical analysis method. The results show that nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the lake is dominant. The average concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) exceed the surface water quality Class III standards by 1.6 and 2.2 times, respectively. Spatially, the results of the cluster analysis showed that the water quality in Cihu Lake can be categorized into three regions: the northern half of the lake, the southern half of the lake, and the canal entering the lake. Temporally, the water quality in these three regions can be classified into three categories: March to May (the northern half of Cihu Lake), September to November (the southern half of Cihu Lake), and September (the canal entering Cihu Lake). The discriminant analysis results showed that NH3-N, TN, CODCr, and BOD5 are the main factors that affect the uneven spatial distribution of the water quality of Cihu Lake, while TN, DO, and CODMn are the main factors that affect the temporal difference in the northern half of Cihu Lake, and NH3-N, TP, CODCr, DO, CODMn, TN, and TP are the main factors affecting the temporal difference in the southern half of Cihu Lake and the canal entering Cihu Lake. It was found that the water pollution in the study area can be mainly attributed to the incoming water and urban domestic pollution. The main pollution sources for the canal entering Cihu Lake and the southern half of Cihu Lake are the water from the sewage treatment plant and the domestic sewage that has not been intercepted, while the northern half of Cihu Lake is mainly affected by surface runoff, mixed rainwater and sewage, and internal pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1972, when the federal government took the lead in protecting our nation's waters from pollution and destruction, it intended to assert federal jurisdiction as broadly as possible. Nonetheless, for the last fifty years, the precise contours of federal jurisdiction (the extent of "waters of the United States" or "WOTUS") have been in dispute, with multiple alternative administrative proposals to define the legislation rejected by the Supreme Court. A part of this debate has been about both the wisdom of extensive federal jurisdiction as well as the assertion that states, if allowed, would step in and regulate water pollution and destruction themselves. At various points, the argument has thus been about the proper balance of federal and state power. Though this argument has theoretical appeal, and though we may have no choice but to look to states to protect certain waters if the Supreme Court continues to narrow federal jurisdiction, the truth is that this is not going to happen. Most states are never going to expand their jurisdiction to protect waters not protected at the federal level. This is demonstrated by theories of federalism, Congressional observations in passing the 1972 Amendments, empirical data of state regulatory history, and actions the states have positively taken to limit jurisdiction. Pretending that states asserting jurisdiction is a real possibility or a valid data point is thus pointless and also destructive. It detracts from the real impacts limiting federal jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the segregation and the initial provision of water in the U.S. It mentions that water and sewer infrastructure have historically played a crucial role in eliminating waterborne threats. It discusses that higher rates of residential segregation built their waterworks earlier but were slower to eliminate typhoid fever.

Dredge and fill activities are an essential feature of mining projects, infrastructure construction, and coastal rehabilitation. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the largest dredge and fill operator in the United States, it is also the federal agency responsible for permitting such activities. As a check on the Corps, the Clean Water Act grants the United States Environmental Protection Agency veto power over dredge and fill permits. Over the last thirty years, however, the increased use of nationwide general permits has disrupted the balance of power between these two federal agencies. General permits authorize dredge and fill activity without individualized environmental review. Significantly, the Environmental Protection Agency has never vetoed a general permit. This Note addresses this power imbalance by arguing that statutory authority exists for an expanded application of the veto power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy intervention is a critical measure to address water resources challenges and improve water governance capacity. The strictest water resources management (SWRM) policy is an important water policy system that aims to deal with water shortage, water pollution, and institutional dysfunction in China. This study conducts a quantitative analysis for policy text characteristics of the SWRM through the methods of text mining and content analysis. First, we construct an analytical framework with the combination of policy instruments and policy targets, and then code and classify policy instruments in policy text and conduct statistical analysis. Finally, the research conclusions and policy suggestions are put forward. The results show that major policy instruments are structurally imbalanced in China's SWRM policy. China's government prefers to issue a mandatory, standardized, and restrictive policies in water resources management. Most of the policy instruments are focused on institutional management, followed by resources allocation, technological progress, and the ecological environment. This study contributes to the knowledge body of water policy evaluation and water governance, provides decision-making references for optimizing and promoting China's water resources management policy, and offers a peer reference for water governance in other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using unique data on chemical manufacturing facilities regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA), this paper analyzes the effect of one particular environmental management practice — internal monitoring — on regulated facilities' compliance with wastewater discharge limits. To deepen our understanding of the role played by internal monitoring, we extend our analysis by exploring the interaction between internal monitoring and self-audits, which should share a similar purpose to internal monitoring by providing systematic information to regulated facilities on their pollution abatement efforts. Baseline empirical results robustly demonstrate that increases in the extent of internal monitoring significantly improve facilities' environmental compliance. The extended empirical results offer moderate evidence that audits complement internal monitoring (and vice versa): as facilities audit more frequently, the productive effect of increased internal monitoring grows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]