EPA and Army Corps Propose Another Definition of "Waters of the United States"
Published Friday, October 2, 2026
On Sept. 9, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to update the definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, under the federal Clean Water Act.
The notice builds on the agencies’ November 2025 proposal and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA. The agencies said the proposal is intended to create a more durable and legally defensible definition that provides greater regulatory certainty while limiting federal jurisdiction to waters authorized by the U.S. Supreme Court. Key proposed changes include: a narrower definition of “relatively permanent” waters, new definition of “perennial,” and a more restrictive wetlands jurisdiction in which wetlands would be jurisdictional only if they have a continuous surface water connection to another jurisdictional water and are so closely connected that it is difficult to determine where the water ends and the wetland begins. Comments are due Oct. 9. The proposed updated WOTUS definition can be found here.
Staff contact: Kari Fisher, kfisher@cfbf.com.
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