Waters of the United States

A lawsuit led by six federally recognized Indian tribes and Earthjustice resulted in a 2021 U.S. District Court ruling to vacate the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. The court found the rule contained "serious errors" and posed a risk of "significant harm to the nation’s waters." This ruling restored water protections that had been in place since 1986, specifically benefiting wetlands, headwater streams, and desert washes in the West, Southwest, and Great Lakes regions that had been excluded from Clean Water Act safeguards.

• In 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, citing that the rule had "serious errors" and the "potential to cause significant harm to the nation’s waters" if it remained active during the Biden administration's revision process.
• The Navigable Waters Protection Rule, referred to as the "Dirty Water Rule," eliminated Clean Water Act protections for thousands of waterbodies, including wetlands, headwater streams, and desert washes, particularly impacting the West, Southwest, and Great Lakes regions.
• The legal victory restored water protections that had been established in 1986, ensuring that Clean Water Act safeguards remain in effect while a new rule is developed.

APA

Earthjustice (2022). Waters of the United States. https://earthjustice.org/case/waters-of-the-united-states

Chicago

Earthjustice. Waters of the United States. 2022. https://earthjustice.org/case/waters-of-the-united-states.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Waters of the United States |date=30 June 2022 |url=https://earthjustice.org/case/waters-of-the-united-states |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2022waters, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Waters of the United States}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://earthjustice.org/case/waters-of-the-united-states}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }