Water Quantity and Quality: Law Affecting Water Supply (Update)

Water quantity and water quality, once considered separate in the law, are converging. Increasingly, federal and state water policy and regulation intersect with the consideration of endangered species, resulting in complex problems that are not easily addressed, especially through litigation. Viewed in the past as confined to the arid west, these issues now crop up across the country, as seen in several recent water-related cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, recent cases have addressed whether and how indirect discharges of pollutants through groundwater to navigable waters may be regulated under the Clean Water Act. The policy implications in these disputes are far-ranging and go to the heart of several cornerstone environmental statutes, including the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and NEPA. The disputes also illustrate the potential conflict between state and federal authority whenever water is considered. Join Kathy Robb, a partner in the New York office of Sive, Paget & Riesel, for a discussion of legal issues surrounding water supply and quality.

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the interplay of water quantity and water quality in U.S. law
2. Grasp the scope and limits of legal responses to water supply issues
3. Identify cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court on water allocation and regulation
4. Recognize how the CWA Water Transfers Rule, and the litigation and recent regulatory activity surrounding the 2015 “Waters of the United States (“WOTUS”) Rule may affect water supply issues
5. Examine the extent to which groundwater may be regulated under the Clean Water Act in light of recent cases in the federal circuit and district courts, including Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al v. County of Maui