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*. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	21-P-0130

Office of Inspector General
May 11, 2021
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Audit
We conducted this audit to
identify the extent to which the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's existing Clean Water
Act programs and Office of
Research and Development
initiatives address threats and
risks to public health and the
environment from trash,
including plastic, within the
waters of the United States.
This report focuses on our audit
findings related to the Office of
Water's Clean Water Act
programs. We issued Report
No. 21-N-0052 on January 6,
2021, to summarize our audit
findings related to the Office of
Research and Development's
initiatives.
Improperly handled trash,
which includes plastic, can
enter fresh water and marine
ecosystems, thereby posing
risks to human health and the
environment.
This audit addresses the
following:
•	Ensuring clean and safe
water.
This audit addresses a key EPA
management challenge:
•	Overseeing states
implementing EPA programs.
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.
List of OIG reports.
EPA Helps States Reduce Trash, Including Plastic,
in U.S. Waterways but Needs to Identify Obstacles
and Develop Strategies for Further Progress
What We Found
The EPA and states have not widely applied
all the tools established by the Clean Water
Act to reduce the trash, including plastic, in
U.S. waterways. Trash pollution in water
bodies is challenging to control because:
The EPA and states can
reduce the volume of trash,
including plastics, in
U.S. waterways by evaluating
barriers to implementing the
Clean Water Act and
developing strategies to
overcome those barriers.
•	It is made up of many substances.
•	It is both a point- and nonpoint-source
pollutant.
•	The EPA has not established consistent methods for measuring it.
Despite these challenges, thousands of municipalities across the United States
control stormwater discharges of trash through the Clean Water Act's National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, specifically through permits for
municipal separate storm sewer systems. In addition, the EPA, states, and
municipalities implement a variety of nonregulatory initiatives to prevent and
remove trash from waterways.
The EPA can further improve its efforts to reduce trash, including plastic, in U.S.
waterways by evaluating the regulatory and nonregulatory obstacles facing states
and municipalities and by continuing its support of trash-reduction initiatives.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We make three recommendations to the assistant administrator for Water:
•	Evaluate the obstacles to implementing the Clean Water Act to control trash
in U.S. waterways and provide a public report describing those obstacles.
•	Develop and disseminate strategies to states and municipalities for
addressing the obstacles identified in the evaluation.
•	Support state and local municipalities' efforts to control trash through
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for municipal
separate sewer systems by publishing guidance documents such as the
Trash Stormwater Permit Compendium and the U.S. EPA Escaped Trash
Assessment Protocol.
The EPA agreed with our recommendations and proposed acceptable corrective
actions and estimated completed dates. Recommendations 1 and 2 are resolved
with corrective actions pending, and Recommendation 3 is completed.

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