New USEPA Definition of Waters of the United States Rule

Learn about the Categories of Waters, Exclusions, Definitions and Terms Under the Waters of the United States Rule.

The land use development process requires the identification of Federal jurisdictional waters and wetlands on a project site or along a project corridor. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recently published a new and revised definition of "Waters of the United States" found at 40 CFR Part 230 on June 29, 2015, effective August 28, 2015. This topic will help you understand the eight specific categories of jurisdictional waters and wetlands in the new definition. Review the extensive list of features excluded from regulatory oversight and a number of new terms, such as adjacent, neighboring and ordinary high water line, used in the definition. A summary of the four decade history of the evolution of the definition of waters of the United States within the Section 404 program will be interjected into the discussion including past federal guidance and Supreme Court cases that greatly influenced the new definition. Look into the future on how this new definition will likely change the Section 404 federal permitting program in the coming years.

Learning Objectives

- You will be able to identify which ditches and man-made features, such as storm water management basins, are excluded from jurisdictional waters and wetlands.

- You will be able to discuss why the USEPA determined that all adjacent wetlands are automatically jurisdictional waters and wetlands.

- You will be able to explain the distances that wetlands need to be from surface waters as used in the definition of neighboring.

- You will be able to recognize that the main focus of most significant nexus reviews will be to understand how a water or wetland is "connected" to the downstream waters in the watershed.