Revised Definition of “Waters of the United States”

* Note - The yellow highlighted paragraph above from DNREC's report refers to this.

Why is this important?

From the DNREC report above, we can surmise that changes in the definition of Waters of the US (WOTUS) in 2020 resulted in the lesser definition of wetlands. The three sentences below are copied from the proposed Revised Definition of “Waters of the United States”:

In 2020, however, the agencies issued a rule, called the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” (NWPR), which substantially departed from prior rules defining “waters of the United States.”

Following a federal district court decision vacating the NWPR on August 30, 2021, the agencies halted implementation of the NWPR and began interpreting “waters of the United States” consistent with the pre-2015 regulatory regime.

In 2016, NWI developed a more comprehensive dataset (NWI Version 2) that is inclusive of all surface water features in addition to wetlands. The agencies can use this dataset to help assess potential hydrologic connectivity between waterways and wetlands in support of jurisdictional decisions. For example, the NWI Version 2 dataset can be used in part to help the agencies identify wetlands that do not meet the definition of adjacent (“other waters”). This NWI Version 2 dataset provides more complete geospatial data on surface waters and wetlands than has been available in the past and provides a more efficient means to make determinations of flow and water movement in surface water basins and channels, as well as in wetlands.

The comment period on this revision will end on 2/7/2022.

The impact on Coral Lakes:

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's National Wetlands Inventory map shows 8 separate pockets of wetlands in a total of 56.67 acres