EPA proposes to exclude water transfers from regulation under the Clean Water Act's NPDES permitting program. Whether a permit is needed or not has been at issue in numerous court cases in recent years. The proposed rule would define a water transfer as an activity that conveys waters of the United States to another water of the United States without subjecting the water to intervening industrial, municipal or commercial use. This exclusion does not apply, though, to pollutants that the water transfer itself may introduce to the water being transferred.

For more information, visit ttp://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=41#water_transfer.