On November 17, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps announced a proposed rule that will narrowly define “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) in a way that will drastically eliminate federal Clean Water Act (CWA) protections for the nation’s rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and other waters which are essential for drinking water, fisheries, recreation, agriculture, food security, water filtration, flood control, and wildlife habitat. Contrary to the CWA, this proposed regulatory definition is an attempt to ensure that waters across the country are no longer federally protected against pollution and destruction.
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper and 98 other Waterkeeper groups submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency on the proposed revised definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS).
What the Proposed Rule Would Do
Already weakened by both the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision and the executive branch, the proposed rule would gut existing protections for nearly every category of protected waters. Examples include:
- Completely eliminating interstate waters as a category of protected waters;
- Using scientifically and legally unsound definition to exclude entire classes of rivers, streams, lakes, and other waters that flow into other jurisdictional waters;
- And excluding any wetland that does not physically touch another jurisdictional water and meet unscientific water flow requirements.
The agencies’ own estimates indicated the proposed rule would leave more than 80% (73.5 million acres) of mapped wetlands in the continuous U.S. unprotected against pollution and destruction.
Why This Matters
The Clean Water Act has one clear objective: “To restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”
Congress intended the Act to apply broadly to protect the “waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” The law was designed to regulate pollution at its source and protect downstream waters. A narrowed definition of WOTUS directly contradicts that objective.
Headwaters Matter
What happens in small creeks and wetlands directly affects the health of our major rivers. Isolated creeks and wetlands are already fragmented and degraded. Stripping protections now will accelerate the loss of natural water filtration and the degradation of downstream water quality.
In the age of climate change, with snowpack declining, drought intensifying, and water scarcity increasing, we should be strengthening water protections, not dismantling them.
A Giveaway to Polluters
In 2023, EPA issued a final rule to comply with the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision. There is no legal requirement to reopen the definition of WOTUS again.
This proposal goes far beyond what the Court required. It represents an extreme and unnecessary attack on clean water protections and hands corporate polluters a license to dump waste into more waters than at any point in the last 50 years.
This new rule proposal contradicts the Clean Water Act, sound science, and the overwhelming majority of Americans who support strong clean water protections.
Waterkeepers’ Stance on the Proposal
Comments submitted by Waterkeeper groups were in full opposition to this proposed rule.
The Clean Water Act’s regulatory definition of “waters of the United States” must fully encompass waters necessary to protect the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters — as Congress intended.
At a minimum, existing protections must be maintained. Any reinterpretation must align with:
- The objective of the Clean Water Act
- The full body of case law interpreting the Act
- The best available hydrologic and water quality science
This proposal fails on all counts and we urged EPA to withdraw this harmful proposal and instead protect our waterways to the fullest extent of the law.