A rule years in the making, the Obama Administration finally unveiled expanded protections for the nations watercourses and wetlands. Due to the negative effects of 3 Supreme court decisions (Bayview Homes, Rapanos and SWANCC) on the federal jurisdiction over waterways and wetlands, a new, finer grained definition of “waters of the United States” will return some sanity back to protect these important natural resources.
In many instances, if state level protections are not in place to guard wetlands and watercourses from encroachment by farming or development, the Federal Clean Water act has little jurisdiction. This balanced rule will hopefully make the determination of exactly what waterways are covered an easier task, and finally begin moving towards the the Nation's stated objective of "no net loss" of wetlands, while retaining traditional exemptions for many farming, ranching, and silviculture activities.
Selected quotes from the rule are below, all 297 pages are available here
This final rule does not establish any regulatory requirements. Instead, it is a definitional rule that clarifies the scope of “waters of the United States” consistent with the Clean Water Act (CWA), Supreme Court precedent, and science......
In this final rule, the agencies clarify the scope of “waters of the United States” that are protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA), based upon the text of the statute, Supreme Court decisions, the best available peer-reviewed science, public input, and the agencies’ technical expertise and experience in implementing the statute. This rule makes the process of identifying waters protected under the CWA easier to understand, more predictable, and consistent with the law and peer-reviewed science, while protecting the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of our nation’s water resources.
Additional info:
WATER POLICY: In major shift, new rule excludes some wetlands, ponds
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26 October 2026
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