Opinion ID: 75756
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pumping of Polluted Water

Text: 7 We review the district court's grant of summary judgment to Plaintiffs de novo, applying the same legal standard as the district court. Hendrickson v. Ga. Power Co., 240 F.3d 966, 969 (11th Cir.2001). For summary judgment to be proper, no genuine issue can exist on a material fact; and the moving party must be entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). In reviewing the evidence, we must draw all reasonable, factual inferences in favor of the non-moving party. Carriers Container Council, Inc. v. Mobile S.S. Ass'n, 896 F.2d 1330, 1337 (11th Cir. 1990). 8 The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants from a point source into navigable waters without an NPDES permit. See 33 U.S.C. §§ 1311, 1342. The discharge of a pollutant is defined as any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source. See 33 U.S.C. § 1362(12). No party disputes that the S-9 pump station and, in particular, the pipes from which water is released constitute a point source 3 or that the water released by the station contains pollutants. Also, both parties agree that the C-11 Canal and the WCA-3A constitute navigable waters. The parties mainly dispute one legal issue: whether the pumping of the already polluted water constitutes an addition of pollutants to navigable waters from a point source. 9 Relying on a line of hydroelectric-dam cases, the Water District argues that no addition of pollutants from a point source can occur unless a point source adds pollutants to navigable waters from the outside world. See Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. Gorsuch, 693 F.2d 156, 175 (D.C.Cir.1982) (showing deference to EPA's interpretation that [an] addition from a point source occurs only if the point source itself physically introduces a pollutant into water from the outside world); Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. Consumers Power Co., 862 F.2d 580, 584 (6th Cir.1988) (same). 4 Under the Water District's interpretation, when a point source conveys one navigable water into another, no addition of pollutants will occur unless the point source itself is the source of the pollutants which it releases. And, because S-9 does not itself introduce pollutants from the outside into the water which it conveys, the Water District contends no addition of pollutants occurs. 10 First, we conclude that, in determining whether pollutants are added to navigable waters for purposes of the CWA, the receiving body of water is the relevant body of navigable water. Thus, we must determine whether pollutants are being added to WCA-3A. They are. 5 Nevertheless, for an addition of a pollutants to navigable waters to require an NPDES permit, that addition of pollutants must be from a point source. And, for an addition of pollutants to be from a point source, the relevant inquiry is whether — but for the point source — the pollutants would have been added to the receiving body of water. 6 We, therefore, conclude that an addition from a point source occurs if a point source is the cause-in-fact of the release of pollutants into navigable waters. 11 When a point source changes the natural flow of a body of water which contains pollutants and causes that water to flow into another distinct body of navigable water into which it would not have otherwise flowed, that point source is the cause-in-fact of the discharge of pollutants. 7 And, because the pollutants would not have entered the second body of water but for the change in flow caused by the point source, an addition of pollutants from a point source occurs. Neither party disputes that, without the operation of the S-9 pump station, the polluted waters from the C-11 Canal would not normally flow east into the WCA-3A. 8 The S-9 pump station, therefore, is the cause-in-fact of the addition of pollutants to the WCA-3A. We, therefore, conclude that the release of water caused by the S-9 pump station's operation constitutes an addition of pollutants from a point source.