Abstract
The water cycle, including its oceans, surface water, wetlands, water vapor, clouds and groundwater, has resulted in a patchwork of statutes and regulations that fail to comprehensively protect the “waters of the United States.” This is not a simple "fix," and requires Congressional positivism rather than decades of relying on the judicial branch to resolve statutes that are ultimately not designed for true water protection. It is Congress’s role to resolve the wetlands protection issue, and it has avoided the responsibility probably for lack of a good solution. It would likely take a Constitutional amendment to bring the hydrologic cycle of the United States into the protection of the Clean Water Act.
Recommended Citation
Victoria Sutton,
WE CAN PROTECT THE “WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES” AS LONG AS THEY STAY OUT OF THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE,
61
Idaho L. Rev.
(2025).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uidaho.edu/idaho-law-review/vol61/iss1/4