In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released the report Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters:A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence (draft) for public
comment. This report will serve as
scientific support for an upcoming EPA rulemaking to clarify the muddied
jurisdictional waters of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The
scope of the CWA was intended to be as broad as its purpose: to “restore and maintain the
chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” The Clean Water Act sought to achieve this goal by reducing the discharge of pollutants into streams, lakes, rivers, wetlands and other waterways. In particular, Section 404 of the CWA regulates the discharge
of dredged and fill materials into “navigable waters” of the United States, which established the basis for federal protection of our nation's wetlands.
Over the past decade, however, a series of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the definition of "navigable waters" have removed some waters from federal protection, and caused confusion about which waters and wetlands remain protected. Among other things, the decisions clouded whether certain wetlands had a sufficient connection to downstream waters so as to allow the federal government to protect those wetlands.
In response to these decisions, the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developed a draft rule to clarify the federal government's jurisdiction over wetlands under the Clean Water Act. And that's where the Connectivity Report comes in.
The Report reviews more than 1,000 peer reviewed pieces of scientific literature, and will form the scientific basis that supports the new rule. Its main conclusions
are:
- Streams, regardless of their size or how frequently they flow, are
connected to, and have important effects, on downstream waters.
- Wetlands and open waters in floodplains of streams and rivers, and in riparian areas, are integrated with streams and rivers.
Waters
are connected! Who would have guessed? I think many of us have believed this for
quite some time, but now we have the science to prove it.
This new rule should eliminate the uncertainty around the CWA’s jurisdiction and allow it to fulfill its purpose by protecting streams and wetlands from pollution and development.
This new rule should eliminate the uncertainty around the CWA’s jurisdiction and allow it to fulfill its purpose by protecting streams and wetlands from pollution and development.
