Congress enacted the Clean Water Act in 1972 with the statutory objective “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”
One of the Act’s principal tools in achieving that objective is a prohibition on the discharge of pollutants from a point source to “navigable waters” unless otherwise authorized under the Act. “Navigable waters” are defined in the Act as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Thus, “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) is a threshold term establishing the geographic scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The term “waters of the United States” is not defined by the Act but has been defined by EPA and the Army in regulations since the 1970s and jointly implemented in the agencies’ respective programmatic activities.
On June 9, 2021, EPA and the Department of the Army announced their intent to revise the definition of WOTUS to better protect our nation’s vital water resources that support public health, environmental protection, agricultural activity, and economic growth. Upon review of the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, the agencies determined that the rule is significantly reducing clean water protections.