Are Effluent Disposal Standards are able to control pollution or they masking aim of pollution control?

Effluent Disposal standard Fistly introduced by USEPA in seventies and followed by most of world.It have oxygen deficient parameters like BOD/COD.It is assumed that effluent discharge to water bodies and water bodies are cleaned and non polluted.But what we see many times water bodies are more polluted than treated effluent.There are many reasons behind it as large increase in waste water generation,fast population growth but quantitative approach did not carried out only qualitative approach did not able to solve this problem.In many countries there is cap on effluent generation by industries so instead of utilities some expensive technologies like multiple effect evaporators,Reverse Osmosis are compelled on industries result of  same quantity of waste get generated (In mass)but give white wash that pollution get controlled but there was only route change.

The law makers ,governing agencies should be change their view and aim to disposal standard to save aquatic or terrestrial life my require oxygen plus disposal standard to save both aquatic and terrestrial life may be fishes may be insects.