The draft guidance by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aims to delineate which waterways, water bodies and wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act. This should provide more clarity for businesses, which need permits to discharge pollution into protected waters as well as fill protected waters and wetlands, the EPA said.
The guidance says that small streams are protected by the act if they have a “physical, chemical or biological connection” to larger bodies of water downstream, and could affect the integrity of those downstream waters. “Agencies would be able to evaluate groups of waters holistically rather than the current, piecemeal, stream-by-stream analysis,” the EPA said.
The agency indicated that it intends to expand the definition of “traditional navigable waters”, saying the term may apply under a wider range of circumstances than in previous guidance. This would make more water bodies subject to Clean Water Act protections.
The act will also apply to non-navigable tributaries to traditional navigable waters if the tributaries are relatively permanent, meaning they contain water at least seasonally. Wetlands adjacent to either interstate waters or traditional navigable waters would also be covered, along with wetlands that directly abut relatively permanent waters.
And the EPA said it is clarifying that interstate waters are also protected by the act. Waters that are not regulated by the act include artificial lakes and ponds, many agricultural and roadside ditches, and certain artificially irrigated areas, the EPA said.
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