You’ve heard about POTUS and SCOTUS, but do you know what “WOTUS” is? 

WOTUS stands for “Waters of the United States,” a deceptively simple title with enormous consequences for clean water. It determines which rivers, streams and wetlands receive federal protection under the Clean Water Act, and which do not. 

In September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released new alternatives for redefining WOTUS, supplementing a rule proposed in 2025. Public comments are due by 8:59 pm PST on October 9, 2026. 

In the last few years, our clean water protections have been slowly eroded.  Now, the federal administration is proposing to land a fatal blow, one which could potentially eliminate the Clean Water Act protections for at least 95% of individual wetlands and 79% of rivers and streams in the continental U.S¹.

Why does WOTUS matter? 

The Clean Water Act was adopted more than 50 years ago with an ambitious goal: to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” 

Rivers don’t function as isolated channels. They are part of interconnected systems of tributaries, wetlands, floodplains, groundwater, and headwater streams. Pollution entering a small stream can travel downstream. Wetlands can capture sediment and nutrients, store floodwaters, and improve water quality. Headwater streams collect and move water through a watershed, ultimately feeding the larger rivers below. 

Environmental science recognizes that connectivity, and Indigenous communities have known it since time immemorial. The 2025 rule ignored that understanding and this new rule intentionally undermines and completely abandons it.  

In the Sierra Nevada, water doesn’t always run year-round 

Think about the Yuba watershed. The Yuba rivers don’t begin as one big river. They begin with snowmelt, springs, wetlands, meadows,  and countless small headwater streams high in the Sierra. Some flow year-round. Others flow seasonally, growing with winter storms and the spring snowmelt before shrinking or disappearing during California’s dry summers. 

Those small and seasonal waters are part of a connected watershed. What happens upstream (sediment, pollution, erosion, development or the loss of wetlands) affects the water quality and habitat downstream. 

Yet one of the alternatives the EPA and the Army Corps are now considering strips protections for those waters. Instead, perennial waterways, only those waters that flow continuously throughout the year, would be the new threshold required for federal protection.  

The reality is that in a Mediterranean climate like California’s, seasonal streams are a normal and important part of our hydrology—not an anomaly.  That connection is especially critical when you consider that more than 60% of California’s water supply originates in the Sierra headwaters².

What happens when a waterway is no longer a WOTUS? 

Federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction provides an important layer of protection. Whether a water is considered WOTUS can determine whether federal requirements apply when activities discharge pollutants or dredged and fill material into streams and wetlands. 

What could that mean here in the Yuba watershed? Imagine a seasonal headwater stream that runs during winter storms and spring snowmelt but dries up in summer. A road or development project could require filling or rerouting part of that stream. Or consider a wet meadow or wetland connected to a tributary of the Yuba that filters sediment, stores water, and slows runoff before that water continues downstream. Filling or disturbing those waters can affect water quality and habitat well beyond the footprint of the project. Under the new rule, that habitat would no longer have the federal protection of the Clean Water Act.  

Under the current rules, if these scenarios include discharging dredged or fill material into a WOTUS, the rules generally require federal authorization under Section 404, which can bring federal review, requirements to avoid and minimize impacts, and mitigation for unavoidable losses. But if that stream no longer counts as a WOTUS, no federal permit or review would be required.  Here, in California, we do have rules and permits– authorizations that add a layer of protection; however, state protections are not a substitute for a consistent federal floor, and they can be weakened by future legislatures, budget cuts, or shifting priorities. 

From the Sierra to the sea 

At SYRCL, we know that rivers are systems. A seasonal tributary high in the Sierra may look small in August. During winter storms or spring snowmelt, that same channel can carry water, sediment, nutrients, and pollutants downstream. Headwater wetlands and meadows can store water, support habitat, and influence the condition of the streams and rivers below them. 

Eventually, those waters become the creeks and tributaries that feed the North, Middle, and South Yuba rivers. The Yuba joins the Feather River, which joins the Sacramento River, and ultimately flows toward the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay. But without those headwater meadows, wetlands, and ephemeral streams, the water in the rivers can start out polluted or disappear altogether.  

That’s why the definition of three words Waters of the United States matters far beyond Washington, D.C. 

POTUS and SCOTUS may make the headlines. But for people who care about healthy rivers, clean water, and resilient watersheds, WOTUS is an acronym worth knowing and understanding. 

Make your voice heard — write a comment letter.  

Tell the EPA  that the new definition of WOTUS is wrong. In the Yuba watershed, seasonal streams, headwaters, wetlands, and the larger river system are interconnected; weakening protection for upstream waters can ultimately affect water quality and habitat downstream.  Urge the EPA and the Army Corps not to adopt a definition of WOTUS that removes Clean Water Act protections from intermittent streams, headwaters, and wetlands. Watersheds function as connected systems, and protecting our rivers requires protecting the streams and wetlands that feed them. 

How to: 

Visit Federal Register :: Updated Definition of “Waters of the United States” and click on the green box titled “Submit a Public Comment.” Enter your comments directly into the form. Complete the required information, review your submission, and click Submit Comment on the bottom of the page. 

Prefer to email? Comments may also be sent to OW-Docket@epa.gov. Put EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322 in the subject line. 

Deadline: October 9, 2026. 

1. Waterkeeper Alliance Condemns EPA Plan to Leave Most U.S. Waters Unprotected – Waterkeeper ↩︎
2. California’s Water Resilience Portfolio (2020) ↩︎