I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5983 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to restore a national 
minimum standard of protection for the water resources of the United 
States while providing certainty to regulated entities. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 18, 2023 
Mr. LARSEN of Washington (for himself, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. BEYER, Ms. 
STANSBURY, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. ALLRED, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. 
BALINT, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. 
CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. CASAR, Mr. 
CASE, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CON-
NOLLY, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. CROW, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEGETTE, 
Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. 
EVANS, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. GARCI´A of 
Illinois, Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. 
GOLDMAN of New York, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GRIJALVA, 
Ms. HOYLE of Oregon, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JACOBS, 
Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. KAP-
TUR, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIM
of New Jersey, Mr. 
KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LIEU, Mr. 
LYNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. MCCOL-
LUM, Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MENG, Mr. 
MFUME, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. 
MULLIN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 
OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. PORTER, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. 
RASKIN, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SAR-
BANES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHNEIDER, 
Ms. SCHOLTEN, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SMITH of 
Washington, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. 
THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. 
TONKO, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, Mr. 
VARGAS, Mr. VASQUEZ, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, 
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. 
WILSON of Florida, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, and Ms. WATERS) introduced 
the following bill 
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OCTOBER 25, 2023 
Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to restore 
a national minimum standard of protection for the water 
resources of the United States while providing certainty 
to regulated entities. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Water Act of 
2023’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To reaffirm the commitment of Congress to 
restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and bio-
logical integrity of the Nation’s protected water re-
sources. 
(2) To clearly define the Nation’s protected 
water resources that are subject to the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1252 et 
seq.) (commonly known as the ‘‘Clean Water Act’’) 
based on the best available scientific evidence and 
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decades of partnership between the Federal, State, 
and Tribal governments to protect water quality. 
(3) To eliminate the confusion initiated by the 
Supreme Court’s overly narrow interpretation of the 
term ‘‘navigable waters’’ and to reestablish the com-
prehensive authority necessary to meet the codified 
objective of the Clean Water Act. 
(4) To restore a national minimum standard of 
protection of the Nation’s protected water resources 
to the fullest extent of the legislative authority of 
Congress under the Constitution. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Water is a singular and precious resource 
that sustains all life and is fundamental to civiliza-
tion’s survival, cultural practices, and indigenous 
ways of life. 
(2) Clean and abundant water is important for 
public health, agriculture, transportation, flood con-
trol, energy production, recreation, fishing, and mu-
nicipal and commercial uses. 
(3) Rivers, streams, wetlands, and other water 
bodies are hydrologically connected within their wa-
tersheds, and scientific evidence shows that the pol-
lution, impairment, or destruction of a water body in 
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one location may significantly affect the chemical, 
physical, and biological integrity of other waters. 
(4) The Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. 
EPA, 598 U.S. 651 (2023), reduces the protections 
of the Clean Water Act contrary to, and impairing, 
the congressional objective of restoring and main-
taining the chemical, physical, and biological integ-
rity of the Nation’s protected water resources. 
(5) The decision eliminates Clean Water Act 
protections for tens of millions of acres of wetlands, 
including wetlands that perform vital functions such 
as storing water to help reduce flooding, improving 
water quality by filtering pollutants, providing crit-
ical and important habitats for aquatic and other 
species, and recharging groundwater that provides 
drinking water and contributes to downstream flows. 
(6) The decision also puts at risk Clean Water 
Act protections for millions of miles of small, inter-
mittent, and ephemeral streams that— 
(A) comprise the majority of stream miles 
in the United States; 
(B) transport large volumes of water to 
downstream rivers; 
(C) reduce the introduction of pollutants to 
large streams and rivers; 
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(D) provide and purify drinking water sup-
plies; 
(E) are especially important to the life cy-
cles of aquatic organisms; and 
(F) aid in flood prevention. 
(7) The peer reviewed scientific literature un-
equivocally demonstrates that— 
(A) streams, regardless of their size or fre-
quency of flow, are connected to, and strongly 
influence the function of, downstream waters; 
and 
(B) wetlands, including wetlands that lack 
surface 
water 
connections, 
are 
physically, 
chemically, and biologically connected to, and 
affect the integrity of, other protected water re-
sources. 
(8) Restoring and maintaining the Nation’s 
protected water resources, including intrastate 
waters, is necessary to prevent significant harm to 
interstate commerce and sustain a robust system of 
interstate commerce in the future. 
(9) This Act restores Clean Water Act protec-
tions to the Nation’s protected water resources to 
ensure their chemical, physical, and biological integ-
rity. 
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