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Clean Water Act › Discharge of Pollutants › Environmental Policies

The Clean Water Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1972 to reduce levels of toxic substances in the nation's water supply and to prevent high levels of new contamination.  The CWA seeks to... more +
The Clean Water Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1972 to reduce levels of toxic substances in the nation's water supply and to prevent high levels of new contamination.  The CWA seeks to accomplish its stated goals by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources, assisting wastewater treatment facilities and maintaining wetlands. less -
Allen Matkins

Beyond Sackett: California’s Expanding Role in Wetlands Permitting and the Future of “Waters of the State”

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California’s regulatory authority over “waters of the state” continues to grow even as the federal definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) narrows under shifting legal and regulatory frameworks. In Sackett v. EPA...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

To Waive or Not to Waive? That Is the 401 Question

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 16, 2025, clarified the conditions under which a state waives its Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification (WQC) authority. In Village of Morrisville...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Citizen Suits and Larger Penalties May Be the Future of California Water Quality Protections

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The California legislature continues to advance Senate Bill 601 (SB 601), the “Right to Clean Water Act,” which aims to safeguard protections for California’s streams and wetlands that lost federal protection under the Clean...more

Clark Hill PLC

San Francisco v. EPA Brings the End of “End Result” NPDES Permit Requirements

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In its recent decision in San Francisco v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Ninth Circuit interpretation of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), the second case in just two years where the Court has disagreed with the EPA’s...more

Jones Day

U.S. Supreme Court Limits EPA Clean Water Act Permitting Authority

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On March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in City & County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency and clarified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") and state...more

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

Supreme Court Strikes Down ​“End-Result” Requirements in NPDES Permits

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On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that prohibits the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA” or ​“the Agency”) from setting qualitative limits based on the condition of the ​“receiving waters” that...more

Winstead PC

San Francisco v. EPA: Supreme Court Strikes Down EPA’s “End-Result” Permit Requirements

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On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, narrowing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Water Act...more

ArentFox Schiff

A Divided SCOTUS Invalidates Common Provisions of Clean Water Act Permits

ArentFox Schiff on

In the US Supreme Court’s first post-Chevron decision involving the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Supreme Court found against EPA, invalidating ‘end result’ NPDES permit requirements....more

Tonkon Torp LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Will Make it Easier to Comply with NPDES Permits

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On March 4, 2025 the Supreme Court overturned the 9th Circuit to rule in favor of the City of San Francisco in a landmark Clean Water Act case. The EPA authorizes states to issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

EPA-pocalypse Now!

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: A second Trump administration is likely to bring sweeping changes to environmental regulatory and enforcement agendas. During the first Trump term, his administration focused on significant deregulation in...more

Beveridge & Diamond PC

EPA Region 9 Finalizes Purported Expansion of NPDES Stormwater Regulation for Two Watersheds in Los Angeles County

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On November 20, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 published in the Federal Register its Final Designation of stormwater discharges from commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) properties...more

Holland & Knight LLP

EPA to Cruise Ships, Cargo Ships, Barges, Tankers, Tugs and Tows: Take Notice

Holland & Knight LLP on

As detailed through previous Holland & Knight alerts and blogs detailing the Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Consent Decree that postponed completion of the Vessel Incident Discharge (VID) final rule until fall 2024, the...more

Oberheiden P.C.

The Ultimate Guide to Clean Water Act Compliance in 2024 (and Beyond)

Oberheiden P.C. on

Companies that produce and discharge pollutants are subject to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight under the Clean Water Act. The EPA routinely conducts inspections focused on federal laws like Oil Pollution...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Tenth Circuit Weighs In on Maui’s “Functional Equivalent” Test

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck on

The Tenth Circuit became the second federal appellate court—after the Ninth Circuit—to analyze how federal district courts should evaluate whether a discharge of pollutants to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a...more

Allen Matkins

Dissecting Discharges: Recent Ninth Circuit Rulings and EPA Guidelines Interpreting the Clean Water Act

Allen Matkins on

November was an eventful month for the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued two decisions last month—which will apply to cases and matters in California and other states within the Ninth...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

EPA’s New Proposed Maui Guidance: Underwhelming and Sneaky

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On November 20, with no fanfare at all, not even a press release, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its Draft Guidance: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean...more

Nossaman LLP

Ninth Circuit Issues Decision Upholding its Interpretation of “Discharged” for Clean Water Act NPDES Violations

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On November 20, 2023, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Idaho Conservation League v. Poe, No. 22-35978. Therein, the Court upheld its previous interpretation of “discharged” in the context of...more

Nossaman LLP

Ninth Circuit Issues Clean Water Act Opinion Addressing Indirect vs. Direct Discharge and Notice Requirements

Nossaman LLP on

On November 21, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Cottonwood Environmental Law Center vs. Edwards addressing various Clean Water Act issues. Its two key holdings were that (1) the district court...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Wastewater Enforcement: Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality and Town of Wesson Enter into Agreed Order

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The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality (“MCEQ”) and Town of Wesson, Mississippi (“Wesson”) entered into a May 5th Agreed Order (“AO”) addressing alleged violations of a Clean Water Act National Pollutant...more

Jenner & Block

Incorporating PFAS in Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permits to Minimize Risk or Extent of Future CERCLA Liability

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PFAS are being detected in drinking water systems across the United States. Moreover, evolving regulatory developments already require or soon will require that public water systems sample for and remediate these chemicals....more

Robinson+Cole Environmental Law +

EPA Proposes Enforceable Drinking Water Standards For PFAS

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Last week EPA released its proposal for the first set of Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) under the Clean Water Act for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  In contrast to non-enforceable health advisory levels...more

Akerman LLP

WOTUS, SCOTUS, and POTUS—Act III (Or Is it Act IV?)

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Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq., prohibits the discharge of dredged or fill material into “navigable waters” without a permit. Section 502(7) of that act defines “navigable waters”...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

EPA Publishes Final Rule Revising Definition of “Waters of the United States”

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On January 18, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Department of the Army published a new final rule to re-define “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) under the Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”)....more

Stinson LLP

EPA Issues Guidance Pushing States to use NDPES Permits to Reduce PFAS Discharges

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This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance advising states how to use National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements to restrict the discharge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl...more

Robinson+Cole Environmental Law +

No Love for the Dirty Water: EPA Proposing Expanded Stormwater Permitting in Boston

Robinson+Cole Environmental Law + on

The Standells may “love that dirty water” according to their 1966 hit song, but the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New England region is hoping to reduce stormwater pollution running off industrial, commercial and...more

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