II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 912 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction 

of the United States over waters of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 27, 2005 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. KERRY, Mr. 

JEFFORDS, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mr. DURBIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify 

the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the 

United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Water Authority 

5 Restoration Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 

8 (1) To reaffirm the original intent of Congress 

9 in enacting the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
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1 Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 816) to restore and 

2 maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integ3 rity of the waters of the United States. 

4 (2) To clearly define the waters of the United 

5 States that are subject to the Federal Water Pollu6 tion Control Act. 

7 (3) To provide protection to the waters of the 

8 United States to the fullest extent of the legislative 

9 authority of Congress under the Constitution. 

10 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

11 Congress finds the following: 

12 (1) Water is a unique and precious resource 

13 that is necessary to sustain human life and the life 

14 of animals and plants. 

15 (2) Water is used not only for human, animal, 

16 and plant consumption, but is also important for ag17 riculture, transportation, flood control, energy pro18 duction, recreation, fishing and shellfishing, and mu19 nicipal and commercial uses. 

20 (3) In enacting amendments to the Federal 

21 Water Pollution Control Act in 1972 and through 

22 subsequent amendment, including the Clean Water 

23 Act of 1977 (91 Stat. 1566) and the Water Quality 

24 Act of 1987 (101 Stat. 7), Congress established the 

25 national objective of restoring and maintaining the 
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1 chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the wa2 ters of the United States and recognized that achiev3 ing this objective requires uniform, minimum na4 tional water quality and aquatic ecosystem protec5 tion standards to restore and maintain the natural 

6 structures and functions of the aquatic ecosystems 

7 of the United States. 

8 (4) Water is transported through inter9 connected hydrologic cycles, and the pollution, im10 pairment, or destruction of any part of an aquatic 

11 system may affect the chemical, physical, and bio12 logical integrity of other parts of the aquatic system. 

13 (5) Protection of intrastate waters, along with 

14 other waters of the United States, is necessary to re15 store and maintain the chemical, physical, and bio16 logical integrity of all waters in the United States. 

17 (6) The regulation of discharges of pollutants 

18 into interstate and intrastate waters is an integral 

19 part of the comprehensive clean water regulatory 

20 program of the United States. 

21 (7) Small and periodically-flowing streams com22 prise the majority of all stream channels in the 

23 United States and serve critical biological and 

24 hydrological functions that affect entire watersheds, 

25 including reducing the introduction of pollutants to 
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1 large streams and rivers, and especially affecting the 

2 life cycles of aquatic organisms and the flow of high3 er order streams during floods. 

4 (8) The pollution or other degradation of wa5 ters of the United States, individually and in the ag6 gregate, has a substantial relation to and effect on 

7 interstate commerce. 

8 (9) Protection of the waters of the United 

9 States, including intrastate waters, is necessary to 

10 prevent significant harm to interstate commerce and 

11 sustain a robust system of interstate commerce in 

12 the future. 

13 (10) Waters, including wetlands, provide protec14 tion from flooding, and draining or filling wetlands 

15 and channelizing or filling streams, including intra16 state wetlands and streams, can cause or exacerbate 

17 flooding, placing a significant burden on interstate 

18 commerce. 

19 (11) Millions of people in the United States de20 pend on wetlands and other waters of the United 

21 States to filter water and recharge surface and sub22 surface drinking water supplies, protect human 

23 health, and create economic opportunity. 

24 (12) Millions of people in the United States 

25 enjoy recreational activities that depend on intra-
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1 state waters, such as waterfowl hunting, bird watch2 ing, fishing, and photography and other graphic 

3 arts, and those activities and associated travel gen4 erate billions of dollars of income each year for the 

5 travel, tourism, recreation, and sporting sectors of 

6 the economy of the United States. 

7 (13) Activities that result in the discharge of 

8 pollutants into waters of the United States are com9 mercial or economic in nature. 

10 (14) States have the responsibility and right to 

11 prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution of waters, 

12 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act re13 spects the rights and responsibilities of States by 

14 preserving for States the ability to manage permit15 ting, grant, and research programs to prevent, re16 duce, and eliminate pollution, and to establish stand17 ards and programs more protective of a State’s wa18 ters than is provided under Federal standards and 

19 programs. 

20 (15) Protecting the quality of and regulating 

21 activities affecting the waters of the United States 

22 is a necessary and proper means of implementing 

23 treaties to which the United States is a party, in24 cluding treaties protecting species of fish, birds, and 

25 wildlife. 
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1 (16) Protecting the quality of and regulating 

2 activities affecting the waters of the United States 

3 is a necessary and proper means of protecting Fed4 eral land, including hundreds of millions of acres of 

5 parkland, refuge land, and other land under Federal 

6 ownership and the wide array of waters encompassed 

7 by that land. 

8 (17) Protecting the quality of and regulating 

9 activities affecting the waters of the United States 

10 is necessary to protect Federal land and waters from 

11 discharges of pollutants and other forms of degrada12 tion. 

13 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

14 Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

15 Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking paragraph (7); 

17 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (8) through 

18 (23) as paragraphs (7) through (22), respectively; 

19 and 

20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(23) WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES.—The 

22 term ‘waters of the United States’ means all waters 

23 subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial 

24 seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and 

25 their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (in-
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1 cluding intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, 

2 wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, 

3 playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of 

4 the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, 

5 or activities affecting these waters, are subject to the 

6 legislative power of Congress under the Constitu7 tion.’’. 

8 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

9 The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

10 1251 et seq.) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘navigable waters of the United 

12 States’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘waters 

13 of the United States’’; 

14 (2) in section 304(l)(1) by striking ‘‘NAVIGABLE

15 WATERS’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘WATERS OF

16 THE UNITED STATES’’; and 

17 (3) by striking ‘‘navigable waters’’ each place it 

18 appears and inserting ‘‘waters of the United 

19 States’’. 

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