EPA Issues Draft Guidance on NPDES Permitting For Groundwater

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued draft guidance on Dec. 8, interpreting the Supreme Court’s April 23, 2020, ruling in Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund. In Maui County, the Court ruled that pollutants that are discharged from a point source into groundwater, and end up reaching downgradient surface waters, may be treated as the “functional equivalent” of a direct discharge into that surface water body. We offered our interpretations of various aspects of the Maui County decision on this blog, shortly after the decision was issued.