The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army on Thursday finalized a revised definition for waters of the United States (WOTUS).
The rule, called the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, sets a legal definition for a wetland. This updated definition is meant to establish the full extent of federal regulatory jurisdiction, carried out jointly by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The definition identifies four categories of waters that will be federally regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA): territorial seas and traditional navigable waters (Mississippi River); perennial and intermittent tributaries (creeks upstream from rivers); lakes, ponds and impoundments; and wetlands adjacent to jurisdictional waters (the Everglades).
Conversely, the rule also details what waters are subject only to state jurisdiction and not to federal jurisdiction under the CWA. These waters include standing rainwater, groundwater, ditches (including those on most farms), prior converted cropland, farm watering ponds and waste treatment systems and ponds.
This is a major change from the most recent WOTUS rule proposal, a wide-ranging proposal issued by the Obama Administration, which included many of these types of waters under federal jurisdiction.
