WOTUS 101: A Primer and Timeline of the “Waters of the U.S.” 1972

The Waters Of The United States Is Established

The question of which waters are federally regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA) has confused permittees, property owners, states, federal agencies, and courts since the 1972 amendment to the CWA first gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) authority to regulate “navigable” waters. “Navigable” waters are further defined in the statute as “the waters of the United States,” or WOTUS. But the statute does not specifically define WOTUS, instead giving EPA and the Corps the responsibility to develop this definition through a rulemaking process.