High Court Groundwater Decision May Hinge On CWA Textual Arguments

摘要

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument Nov. 6 in a case testing whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) applies to pollutants that travel through groundwater to surface water, with the outcome potentially hinging on which of two competing textual arguments the high court endorses. The dispute in County of Maui v. Hawai 'i Wildlife Fund, et al. stems from the county's use of an underground wastewater injection well that deposited treated effluent into a groundwater channel that flows to the Pacific Ocean. A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in 2018 that the county government is liable under the CWA because a discharge permit is required for "any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source." The panel held that the groundwater shared "an undeniable connection" with the ocean that triggered the water law's permit mandate.