waters of the United States

waters of the United States

All navigable waters within the United States. The Army Corps of Engineers attempted to expand the definition to include wetlands and waterways that drained into navigable waters, thus allowing it to require permits from property owners under many circumstances. In the landmark decision of Rapanos v. United States, the Supreme Court decided, on June 19, 2006, that “The phrase the waters of the United States includes only those relatively permanent,standing or continuously flowing bodies of water ‘forming geographic features' that are described in ordinary parlance as ‘streams,' ‘oceans, rivers, [and] lakes'... and does not include channels through which water flows intermittently or ephemerally, or channels that periodically provide drainage for rainfall.”