Water is life—and the policies that govern it shape everything from the drinking water in your tap to the health of rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Decisions made in statehouses and Washington impact drought preparedness, flood protection, clean water access, energy production, agriculture, and the global economy. Paying attention to water policy isn’t just civic responsibility—it’s about safeguarding communities, ecosystems, and the future of the planet.
The Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest showcasing U.S. government water policy news.
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Federal Water Tap, September 8, 2026: EPA, Army Corps Propose Narrower Clean Water Act Definitions
The Rundown
- EPA and Army Corps propose new limits on which wetlands and streams receive federal protection.
- EPA also wants to revise the Clean Water Act’s regulatory language to exempt ships from requiring pollution permits.
- U.S. Forest Service approves an operations plan for a new manganese mine in southern Arizona.
- Monthly wildfire outlook shows high risk areas in the Pacific Northwest, Lower Mississippi River, Texas, and Oklahoma.
- EPA offers cybersecurity grants to water systems, while the White House announces a cybersecurity support program for Texas water utilities.
- Army Corps receives a wetlands-filling application from Project Dazzler, a Google-linked data center along the Ohio River in southern Ohio.
- BLM proposes opening a Utah national wildlife refuge to oil and gas leasing.
And lastly, the Bureau of Reclamation objects strongly to California’s proposed water quality standards for the Bay-Delta watershed.
“The standard for any Bay-Delta pathway is straightforward: water for people, gold-standard science, adaptive management, and measurable results – not process, delay, or undefined flow targets presented as progress.” – Letter from Aubrey Bettencourt, principal deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, to the California water board objecting to the state’s water quality plan for the highly contested Bay-Delta watershed. A switchyard for major state and federal canals, the Bay-Delta connects San Francisco Bay to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is a water source, a buffer against saltwater intrusion, a habitat for endangered fish, and a tribal homeland. It is also a wellspring of political conflict.
The state, in essence, wants to restore habitats and provide more flow to rivers; Reclamation wants more guaranteed water for its Central Valley Project, which serves primarily farmland south of the delta. Bettencourt, a Central Valley farmer herself, argues in her letter that the state plan is “on a collision course to proscribe CVP operations that are inconsistent with and frustrate the purposes of federal directives for the project.”
By the Numbers
$11.75 Million: EPA grants to 10 water utilities to beef up their cybersecurity. The White House also launched a cybersecurity assistance program for water systems, called Project Watershed 250. The public-private collaboration will begin in Texas.
8.3 Million: Acres burned by wildfire in the United States this year through September 6, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That represents 66 percent more acres burned than the 10-year average through this period.
News Briefs
Clean Water Act Redefinition, Part I
WOTUS, still.
Attempts to define the scope of the Clean Water Act – and what constitutes a “waters of the United States” – have bounced around the courts and ricocheted between administrations for decades. It is certainly a difficult task.
Last year, in response to the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett decision, the EPA and Army Corps proposed narrowing federal oversight. This week, the agencies said they are considering new definitions for key regulatory terms in their proposal.
The core effect would be to further constrict federal authority over streams that are dry part of the year and wetlands.
The terms at hand are relatively permanent, continuous surface connection, and perennial. All relate to waterbody characteristics that would trigger Clean Water Act permitting.
To cite one example, the agencies propose to define relatively permanent as a waterbody that dries no more than once during a year for no more than 30 days:
“For instance, if flow is interrupted for two periods in any given year, and each period consists of 10 consecutive days of no flow, the water body would not be jurisdictional when these interruptions are non-anomalous.”
With deeper, more frequent droughts – especially in the American West but also in other states – this could be a recipe for losing protected status. Much rests on how the agencies, or the courts, would interpret their own language: what counts as anomalous or ordinary in a changing climate?
Public comments are being accepted for 30 days. Submit them via www.regulations.gov using docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322.
Clean Water Act Redefinition, Part II
One more proposed change, this time for marine waters.
The EPA – in what it calls a move for “regulatory clarity” – wants to exempt ships from needing a Clean Water Act permit to release pollutants into near-shore and ocean waters.
“Under the proposal, the addition of pollutants from a free-floating, unsecured vessel or other floating craft in the contiguous zone or ocean is not a discharge of a pollutant and would therefore not be regulated under the NPDES permitting program,” the agency writes.
The leading example in the proposal are ships that process seafood in open waters. The agency estimates $1.7 million in annual compliance savings for those ships.
Public comments are due October 19 via www.regulations.gov using docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2026-6965.
Southern Arizona Mine Approval
Coronado National Forest approved the operations plan for the Hermosa Critical Minerals Project, a manganese and zinc mine in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona.
The federal government has designated those minerals as critical to the U.S. economy and national security. The project, despite local concerns about groundwater use and contamination, was permitted through the FAST-41 priority process.
Studies and Reports
Wildfire Outlook
The National Interagency Fire Center published its monthly wildfire outlook. Risk in certain areas remains high this fall, even after a summer that strained agency resources.
“Fire activity was extremely high the first half of August, with national resources stretched and support needed from active-duty military, Australia, and New Zealand,” the outlook states.
Wildfire risk in September is high in the Pacific Northwest east of the Cascade Mountains, an area that has witnessed multiple fires this summer that exceeded 100,000 acres.
Risk is also above normal in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, eastern Texas, and Oklahoma.
Hydropower Research
The Department of Energy funded 11 hydropower research projects that are intended to inform the operation and management of dams and reservoirs.
The studies, all to be conducted by national laboratories and their partners, range from fish passage and modeling tools to reducing harmful algal bloom growth.
On the Radar
Ohio Data Center Application
The Army Corps received an application to fill wetlands along the Ohio River from Project Dazzler, a $1-billion data center development linked to Google.
The proposal would fill just over 3 acres of wetlands on the 792-acre site in southern Ohio’s Scioto County. The developer, Tilted Gate LLC, would offset those losses by paying for wetlands restoration elsewhere.
Public comments are being accepted through September 17. Send them to kayla.n.osborne@usace.army.mil.
Accessing Fossil Fuels Beneath a Wildlife Refuge
The Bureau of Land Management is considering an amendment to the resource management plan for the Vernal, Utah, area to allow for oil and gas leasing beneath 12,000-acre Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, a proposal that aligns with the Trump administration’s aim of increasing fossil fuel production on public lands.
The amendment would not allow prospectors to disturb refuge land. This means they must drill horizontally from locations off-site.
Public scoping on the proposal is being held through October 5. Submit comments here.
Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
