Final Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule

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. 

On January 31, 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Army (the agencies) finalized a rule adding an applicability date to the 2015 Rule defining “waters of the United States.” The final rule was published in the Federal Register on February 6 , 2018. On August 16, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina vacated and enjoined the rule nationwide. See South Carolina Coastal Conservation League v. Pruitt, 318 F. Supp. 3d 959 (D.S.C. 2018); see also Order, Puget Soundkeeper All. v. Wheeler, No. 2:15-cv-1342, Dkt. No. 61 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 26, 2018) (vacating the Applicability Date Rule nationwide as well). The Applicability Date Rule is not in effect and the materials below are provided for informational purposes.

This rule is available on the Government Publishing Office's govinfo website and on Regulations.gov in Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0644.

The agencies also prepared a memorandum for the record to provide the public with information about the potential economic impacts associated with this action. This memorandum, "Consideration of Potential Economic Impacts for the Final Rule: Definition of 'Waters of the United States' – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule," is also available in the docket.

• Final Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule (pdf) (270.71 KB)
• Memorandum to the Record: Consideration of Potential Economic Impacts for the Final Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule (pdf) (108.57 KB)