Comments on EPA Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Program

The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) provided comments and feedback to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding their draft memorandum which will provide guidance to the regulated community and permitting authorities on applying the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020), in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for point source discharges that travel through groundwater before reaching waters of the United States.

GWPC recognizes that groundwater is not and has never been a jurisdictional water under the definition of waters of the United States. States have full authority over their groundwater resources. Many of our member agencies protect groundwater quality and resources utilizing both federal and state authorities that are outside the regulatory jurisdiction of the CWA.