Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73not60
§1253 Interstate Cooperation and Uniform Laws
Title 33 › Chapter 26— WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL › Subchapter I— RESEARCH AND RELATED PROGRAMS › § 1253
Summary
The Administrator must urge States to work together to stop, lower, and remove pollution, to pass better and, when possible, similar state laws, and to make agreements with each other to control pollution. Congress lets two or more States make such agreements and set up joint agencies if they don’t conflict with U.S. laws or treaties, but an agreement only binds a State after Congress approves it.
Full Legal Text
Title 33, §1253
Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Administrator shall encourage cooperative activities by the States for the prevention, reduction, and elimination of pollution, encourage the enactment of improved and, so far as practicable, uniform State laws relating to the prevention, reduction, and elimination of pollution; and encourage compacts between States for the prevention and control of pollution.
(b)The consent of the Congress is hereby given to two or more States to negotiate and enter into agreements or compacts, not in conflict with any law or treaty of the United States, for (1) cooperative effort and mutual assistance for the prevention and control of pollution and the enforcement of their respective laws relating thereto, and (2) the establishment of such agencies, joint or otherwise, as they may deem desirable for making effective such agreements and compacts. No such agreement or compact shall be binding or obligatory upon any State a party thereto unless and until it has been approved by the Congress.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
33 U.S.C. § 1253
Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable Waters
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60