Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-260_jifl.pdf
Page Number: 19.0

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

15 

Opinion of the Court 

navigable waters, even if the pollutants then flow to those 
waters.  It also seems to exclude a pipe that hangs out over 
the water and adds pollutants to the air, through which the 
pollutants fall to navigable waters.  The absurdity of such 
an interpretation is obvious enough. 

We therefore reject this reading as well: Like Maui’s and
the Government’s, it is inconsistent with the statutory text
and simultaneously creates a massive loophole in the per-
mitting scheme that Congress established. 

E 
For the reasons set forth in Part III and in this Part, we 
conclude that, in light of the statute’s language, structure,
and purposes, the interpretations offered by the parties, the 
Government, and the dissents are too extreme. 

V 
Over the years, courts and EPA have tried to find general
language  that  will  reflect  a  middle  ground  between  these 
extremes.  The statute’s words reflect Congress’ basic aim 
to provide federal regulation of identifiable sources of pol-
lutants entering navigable waters without undermining the
States’  longstanding  regulatory  authority  over  land  and 
groundwater.  We hold that the statute requires a permit 
when  there  is  a  direct  discharge  from  a  point  source  into 
navigable waters or when there is the functional equivalent 
of a direct discharge.  We think this phrase best captures, 
in broad terms, those circumstances in which Congress in-
tended to require a federal permit.  That is, an addition falls 
within the statutory requirement that it be “from any point
source”  when  a  point  source  directly  deposits  pollutants
into  navigable  waters,  or  when  the  discharge  reaches  the 
same result through roughly similar means.   

Time and distance are obviously important.  Where a pipe
ends a few feet from navigable waters and the pipe emits 
pollutants that travel those few feet through groundwater