Response to Comments for the Clean Water Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States"

The final "Revised Definition of 'Waters of the United States'" rule was published in the Federal Register on January 18, 2023, and the rule took effect on March 20, 2023. On August 29, 2023, the agencies issued a final rule amending the Code of Federal Regulations to conform the January 2023 Rule’s definition of “waters of the United States” to the Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. The conforming rule amends the provisions of the agencies’ definition of “waters of the United States” in the January 2023 Rule that are invalid under the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Clean Water Act in the Sackett decision. The conforming rule, "Revised Definition of 'Waters of the United States'; Conforming," published in the Federal Register and became effective on September 8, 2023. Please visit the Rule Status page for additional information about the status of the January 2023 Rule, as amended, and litigation. More information about the current implementation of the definition of "waters of the United States" is available here.

The following documents are associated with the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which was repealed and is not in effect. These documents are provided for informational purposes only.

The Response to Comments Document, together with the preamble to the final Clean Water Rule, presents the responses of the EPA and the Department of the Army to the more than one million public comments received on the proposed rule (79 FR 22188 (Apr. 21, 2014)). The agencies have addressed all significant issues raised in the public comments.

Because of the volume of comments received, the Response to Comment Document is presented in a number of different topical compendiums. Each of these compendiums is available below. The compendiums were numbered for convenience based on the database used to track incoming comments, and no particular meaning is intended by the numbering system. In total, all of these compendiums represent the agencies’ formal Response to Comment Document.

These compendiums have been formatted to be compliant with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. In addition, the compendiums have been reformatted to ensure margins, typeface, comment and response numbers, and identification of pictures with text are consistent throughout. There have been no changes to the content or substance of the Response to Comment document that was prepared at signature of the Clean Water Rule.

The Response to Comments Document, together with the preamble to the Clean Water Rule and the information contained in the Technical Support Document, the Science Report, and the rest of the administrative record should be considered collectively as the agencies’ response to all of the significant comments submitted on the proposed rule. Where there are slight differences, the language in the final preamble and rule controls and should be used for purposes of understanding the scope, requirements, and basis of the final rule.

Response to Comments for the Clean Water Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States"

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act