The new Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS) went into effect Monday, June 22nd. The regulatory rewrite was finalized in April and was supported by the National Association of County Engineers (NACE), the National Association of County Officials (NACo), and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). See NACo’s comment letter here, and AASHTO’s here.
The new rule outlines four basic categories of water that are classified as Waters of the United States as follows:
- Territorial seas and traditional navigable waters
- Tributaries
- Lakes, ponds, and impoundments of jurisdictional waters
- Adjacent wetlands
The rule specifically exempts:
- groundwater
- ephemeral features
- diffuse stormwater run-off and directional sheet flow over upland
- certain ditches (including many farm and roadside ditches)
- prior converted cropland
- artificially irrigated areas
- artificial lakes and ponds
- water-filled depressions
- stormwater control features groundwater recharge, water reuse, and water recycling structures
- waste treatment systems
While the new regulation is touted as positive improvement for streamlining county infrastructure projects, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has come out against the new designations and has specified that state laws will remain unchanged. Click here for the full statement from DEQ.
For more information, see the EPA’s WOTUS Fact Sheet here.