The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers  have announced a new rule defining “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS). The proposed rule is a welcome step to providing a clear, durable definition for the tributaries, wetlands and ditches that are on, over and near our nation’s golf courses. It limits federal jurisdiction over these waterways, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. It also introduces new terms to help provide greater clarity.  

Here's what we know: 

1. “Relatively permanent” standard for tributaries and wetlands. In Sackett, the Court held that federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act extends to 1) relatively permanent bodies of water connected to traditional navigable waters and 2) wetlands with a continuous surface connection to those waters. The proposed rule defines relatively permanent as “standing or continuously flowing bodies of surface water that are standing or continuously flowing year-round or at least during the wet season (emphasis added).”

2. What’s a “wet season”? Wet season is one of the new terms introduced in the rule. Put simply, a “wet season” is when there is water above the surface level. So, how do you determine whether your region is experiencing a wet season? The proposed rule proposes to “focus on precipitation as the one key driver for wet season identification and intend to use the WebWIMP outputs reported in APT as a primary tool to help identify the wet season when precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration rates.”

WebWIMP and the  Antecedent Precipitation Tool (APT) are the tools mentioned.  

3. What is “continuously flowing”? Once you’ve determined whether you are in a wet season, the next step is to determine whether a continuously flowing waterway is impacted. The proposed rule notes there are a number of methods available to do so, including regional stream duration assessment methods (SDAMs). SDAMs are “rapid field-based methods that can be used to identify both streams that contain flowing water continuously during a year of normal rainfall, as well as streams that contain sustained flowing water for part of the year, typically during the wet season, where the streambed may be below the water table and/or where snowmelt provides sustained flow.”

4. Non-jurisdiction features “sever” tributaries: The proposed rule clarifies that a tributary is not a WOTUS when it is flows through a “channelized non-jurisdictional surface water feature, subterranean river, culvert, dam, tunnel, or similar artificial feature, or through a debris pile, boulder field, wetland, or similar natural feature, if such feature does not convey relatively permanent flow.” Any of these features severs federal jurisdiction over the entire tributary.

5. Limited definition of ditches: The proposed rule excludes ditches that are constructed or excavated in dry land, regardless of whether they carry relatively permanent flow. The “dry land” distinction means that water conveyed through ditches that drain only during high precipitation events would not be considered a WOTUS.

6. Groundwater excluded: The proposed rule expressly excludes groundwater, including groundwater drained through subsurface drainage systems. The proposal does not define groundwater. 

The proposed rule is open for a 45-day public comment period that closes on Jan. 5, 2026. GCSAA will work closely with partners in the golf industry as well as the Waters Advocacy Coalition (WAC) to develop recommendations as to how to best implement it.