Isolated Wetland Case Study

In an effort to control water pollution in the United States the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972. The jurisdiction al scope of the CWA over water bodies is defined in the CWA as the “waters of the United States”, which includes wetlands. The term of “waters of the United States” is also synonymous with the term “navigable waters”, which used in a number of provisions of the CWA including section 404 permit program. Since the enactment of the CWA the language used to define the, “waters of the United States” has been challenged due to the need for clarification of the CWA’s jurisdictional scope resulting in numerous lawsuits. (3)
The Wetlands journal report Isolated Wetlands: State-of-the-Science and Future Directions was written is in response to the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court case, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159 (2001) (SWANCC). The court case addressed the constitution authority of the CWA to protect isolated waters based …show more content…
Currently, the CWA jurisdiction of isolated wetlands is determined by the policy makers and courts, and their interpretation of terms used to define wetlands such as, “tributary,” “adjacency,” and “significant nexus” (82).
The contributing authors recommend that “geographically isolated wetlands be defined for the purposes of scientific inquiry as wetlands that are completely surrounded by upland” (82). A common definition of isolated wetlands will enable researchers to compare studies in a reliable and efficient means. (88). Furthermore, policy-makers needs to rely on science to inform them how the terms used to describe the location of wetlands such as, “tributaries,” “adjacency,” and “significant nexus” will be defined (96).