SCOTUS ruling a win for clean water

Apr 23, 2020

In a 6-3 ruling today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt to restrict the Clean Water Act to direct discharges of pollutants, which would have categorically excluded pollutants conveyed through groundwater. In County of Maui v. Hawaii  Wildlife Fund, the Court determined that groundwater that reaches surface water can be the "functional equivalent" of direct discharge into surface water. Last November, IAGLR had joined the Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies in filing an amici curiae brief with the Supreme Court in support of the Hawaii Wildlife Fund. Much of the marjority's opinion is consistent with what the aquatic science societies wrote in the brief, which was cited by Justice Stephen Breyer in writing the majority opinion.