On October 18, 1972, Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, and enacted the broadest, most complex, and most costly legislation ever to deal with this country's water pollution problem. The statute sets out a detailed, complex scheme aimed at achieving the explicit goal of zero discharge of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985.¹ The FWPCA has three primary goals: (1) to furnish financial aid for the planning and construction of waste treatment facilities (Title II), (2) to regulate the discharge of pollutants into American waterways (Titles III and IV), and (3) to encourage planning for waste treatment management (Title II). Though the Amendments are long and detailed and are aimed at setting up precise standards and definite guidelines, ambiguities, and controversies abound. In the two years since enactment, the Amendments have already spawned considerable litigation. Much more can be expected. The cases so far have centered on only two of the Act's three goals—funding for construction of waste treatment facilities and, more importantly, regulation of the discharge of pollutants.