A federal judge in California is again weighing whether to allow plaintiffs to proceed with their novel suit seeking to regulate tile drains, a widely used agricultural irrigation technology, under the Clean Water Act (CWA), or to dismiss the suit as federal defendants and a California water system are urging. Should the court dismiss the suit, it would likely bolster efforts by the Obama administration to exempt tile drains, along with other agricultural drainage systems, in its pending rulemaking defining the reach of the water law. Some sources say it could also help clarify an ambiguity in the CWA on when such irrigation systems are exempt from the law's definition of regulated point sources.
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