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Clean Water Act Module - Quiz
Part I (Questions 1-20)

Select the right answer to each question below. After you've completed the quiz, you can calculate your score and compare your answers to the correct answers by clicking on the Calculate Results button that follows the quiz.

  1. The objectives of the Clean Water Act are to:

      A. Restore and maintain the integrity of the nation's waters
      B. Finance wastewater treatment plans and facilities
      C. Control polluted runoff
      D. Support research and demonstration projects
      E. All of the above

  2. Currently, EPA, states, and tribes are focused solely on the portions of the Clean Water Act dealing with discharge of pollutants from industrial sources.

      A. True
      B. False

  3. Water Quality Standards are parameter-specific based on which of these factors?

      A. Recurrence interval/frequency
      B. Duration
      C. Level/concentration/magnitude
      D. All of the above

  4. A key element of the Water Quality-based approach under the CWA is the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).

      A. True
      B. False

  5. TMDLs determine what level of ____________ would be consistent with meeting Water Quality Standards.

      A. stream flows
      B. pollutant load
      C. best management practice
      D. treatment
      E. None of the above

  6. CWA requires states to establish Water Quality Standards only for surface waters.

      A. True
      B. False

  7. Key Clean Water Act Tools include:

      A. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
      B. Section 401 Water Quality Certification
      C. Section 319 Nonpoint Source Programs
      D. Clean Water State Revolving Fund
      E. Section 404 Regulation of Discharge of Dredged and Fill Materials
      F. All of the above

  8. The three major components of the Water Quality Standards Program are:

      A. Designated use, existing use, and TMDLs
      B. Water quality criteria, antidegradation, and existing uses
      C. Antidegradation, designated use, and water quality criteria
      D. TMDLs, water quality criteria, and designated use

  9. "Existing use" refers to any use to which the waterbody has been put since this date:

      A. January 10, 1978
      B. November 28, 1975
      C. October 15, 1976
      D. July 31, 1977
      E. None of the above

  10. If a waterbody is no longer able to support a documented existing use, that use is no longer listed as one of the designated uses.

      A. True
      B. False

  11. When a waterbody needs cleaner water to support a particular use, that use is a _________ use, and the opposite is a ___________ use.

      A. Lower, higher
      B. Higher, lower

  12. _________ use is a term that answers the public's question, "To what uses do we, want to be able to put this waterbody?"

      A. Preferred
      B. Wishful
      C. Designated
      D. Priority

  13. Water quality criteria specify the conditions that a waterbody needs to meet a particular designated use.

      A. True
      B. False

  14. ___________ criteria, like human health/fish consumption criteria, deal with the effects of pollutants with high bioaccumulation factors.

      A. Technical
      B. Wildlife
      C. Zoo
      D. Human Health

  15. Generally, EPA scientists have indicated that most kinds of aquatic ecosystems can endure being significantly impacted once every 3 years and still remain healthy overall.

      A. True
      B. False

  16. States, tribes, and territories are required to adopt in their WQS the exact numbers that EPA has published as water quality criteria.

      A. True
      B. False

  17. 17. Water quality criteria aimed at providing protection from short term exposure to __________ levels of pollutants are called __________ criteria, whereas WQC addressing long-term exposure to __________ concentrations are called __________ criteria.

      A. low, acute, higher, chronic
      B. high, acute, lower, chronic
      C. steady, acute, intermittent, chronic

  18. A waterbody shows symptoms of impairment when it has:

      A. A higher percentage of tolerant species
      B. A lower proportion of predators
      C. A higher number of generalists
      D. A greater proportion of exotics
      E. More disease, malformations, and lesions
      F. All of the above
      G. None of the above

  19. A _____ allows certain portions of a waterbody below a point source discharge to not meet applicable designated uses and water quality criteria.

      A. designated use
      B. low flow exemption
      C. mixing Zone
      D. None of the above

  20. If a waterbody is attaining water quality standards, __________ policies apply.

      A. Antidegradation
      B. Designated use
      C. TMDL
      D. Degradation
      E. None of the above

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