(June, 9th 2008) Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new rule excluding transfers of water from one body of water to another from the permitting requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).Â
The new rule stipulates that water transfer activities that do not introduce pollutants into transferred water will not be subject to NPDES regulations. The rule defines water transfers as activities that convey or connect waters of the United States without subjecting the transferred water to intervening industrial, municipal, or commercial use.Â
“The EPA’s Water Transfer Rule gives communities greater certainty and makes clear they have the flexibility to protect water quality and promote the public good without going through a new federal permitting process,” said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. “Clean water permits should focus on water pollution, not water movement. EPA is committed to working with our state, tribal, and local partners to reduce environmental impacts associated with transfers and will continue to use all appropriate tools such as standards, best management practices, and watershed plans.”
The new rule is meant to clarify water transfer requirements so that municipalities, irrigators and other water users that rely on water transfers are not needlessly burdened with regulation aimed at preventing pollution when engaging in water transfers that do not pollute.
In South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indiansthe Supreme Court declined to rule in the issue of whether NPDES permits were required for water transfers. In the face of this uncertainty, the EPA issued an interpretive statement in 2005 explaining that Congress intended water resource-management agencies and other state authorities to oversee water transfers, not the NPDES permitting program. This rule codifies that position.
