Updated Definition of Waters of the United States

On November 17, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army (“the agencies”) announced the signing of a proposed rule to revise the definition of “waters of the United States.” This proposal implements the Supreme Court's decision in Sackett v. EPA. The proposed rule will play a key role in EPA’s Powering the Great American Comeback initiative by protecting water resources, strengthening cooperative federalism, and supporting American industry, energy producers, the technology sector, farmers, ranchers, developers, businesses, and landowners.

In developing the proposed rule, EPA and the Army reviewed and considered the extensive feedback and recommendations the agencies received from States, Tribes, local governments, and stakeholders throughout consultations and the pre-proposal recommendations docket and listening sessions. 

PRE-PUBLICATION NOTICE. The Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Adam Telle, and the EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, signed the following proposed rule on November 17, 2025, and EPA is submitting it for publication in the Federal Register (FR). EPA is providing this document solely for the convenience of interested parties. It is not a proposed rule, and it is not the official version of the rule for purposes of public notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act. This document is not disseminated for purposes of EPA's Information Quality Guidelines and does not represent an Agency determination or policy. While we have taken steps to ensure the accuracy of this Internet version of the proposed rule the official version will be published in a forthcoming FR publication, which will appear on the Government Printing Office's govinfo website and on Regulations.gov in Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322.

• Proposed Rule: Updated Definition of "Waters of the United States" (Pre-publication Version) (pdf) (1.12 MB)

Additional Materials

• Press Release
• Proposed Rule Fact Sheets
  • Public Fact Sheet for the 2025 Proposed WOTUS Rule (pdf) (161.71 KB)
  • Agricultural Fact Sheet for the 2025 Proposed WOTUS Rule (pdf) (140.14 KB)
• Frequent Questions
• Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Proposed Rule (pdf) (2.98 MB)
• Public Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement Activities
• Federalism Consultation Report for the Proposed Rule (pdf) (545.75 KB)
• Tribal Consultation and Engagement Report for the Proposed Rule (pdf) (720.52 KB)
• Summary of Pre-proposal Listening Sessions (pdf) (428.57 KB)