Updated Definition of Waters of the United States
On November 17, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army (“the agencies”) announced the signing of a proposed rule to revise the definition of “waters of the United States.” This proposal implements the Supreme Court's decision in Sackett v. EPA. The proposed rule will play a key role in EPA’s Powering the Great American Comeback initiative by protecting water resources, strengthening cooperative federalism, and supporting American industry, energy producers, the technology sector, farmers, ranchers, developers, businesses, and landowners.
In developing the proposed rule, EPA and the Army reviewed and considered the extensive feedback and recommendations the agencies received from States, Tribes, local governments, and stakeholders throughout consultations and the pre-proposal recommendations docket and listening sessions.
On November 20, 2025, the proposed rule Updated Definition of "Waters of the United States" published in the Federal Register (FR). The 45-day comment period will close on January 5, 2026.
- Proposed Rule: Updated Definition of "Waters of the United States" (pdf)
- Submit comments via Regulations.gov to Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322.
Additional Materials
- Supporting Materials are available in Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322
- Press Release
- Proposed Rule Fact Sheets
- Frequent Questions
- Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Proposed Rule (pdf)
- Public Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement Activities
- Federalism Consultation Report for the Proposed Rule (pdf)
- Tribal Consultation and Engagement Report for the Proposed Rule (pdf)
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Summary of Pre-proposal Listening Sessions (pdf)