Preliminary Summary of Waters of the U.S. Final Rule

The following memorandum provides an overview of the key elements within the final “Waters of the U.S. (WOUS)” Rule (a.k.a. The Clean Water Rule) (hereinafter “Final Rule”). The summary is meant to assist ACWA’s Membership in their review of the nearly 300-page pre-publication version of the Final Rule made available by EPA on May 27, 2015. The below information is intended to summarize key changes included in the rule proposal (hereinafter “Proposed Rule”) that were retained in the Final Rule, and also highlights those areas where the Final Rule differs from the language in the Proposed Rule. This memo also incorporates references to the EPA/Corps Fact Sheet on the Clean Water Rule (hereinafter “Clean Water Rule Fact Sheet”) where applicable.