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Wetlands, including ephemeral and intermittent streams, play a critical role in keeping our water clean, managing floods, and providing habitat for wildlife. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decision Sackett v. EPA drastically reduced protections for wetlands under the Clean Water Act, leaving over half of U.S. wetlands unprotected by federal law. The stakes are high for the future of America’s waters. Melissa Scanlan, Director of the Center for Water Policy and 51���� School of Freshwater Sciences Professor, coauthored this research publication with former Water Policy Specialist Rajpreet Grewal.

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From Center for Water Policy:

Wetlands and ephemeral and intermittent streams are vital to the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. Wetlands filter pollutants from water, retain and absorb flood waters, and provide habitats for wildlife. Ephemeral and intermittent streams are ubiquitous and important pathways that drain water and pollutants into traditional navigable waters.

The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law regulating impacts to water resources in the United States, with federal jurisdiction of the Act’s programs turning on whether a waterbody is classified as a “Water of the United States” (WOTUS). In a May 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Court narrowed the definition of WOTUS to only those wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to a traditionally navigable body of water, such as a river or lake. In the wake of the decision, the EPA estimated that more than half of the nation’s wetland acres were no longer protected by the Clean Water Act.

This law review article:

• Reviews the scientific literature on the importance and vital function of wetlands (including isolated wetlands) and ephemeral and intermittent streams;
• Explains the various major legal decisions defining WOTUS up to Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency;
• Examines the federal, tribal, and state responses to Sackett; and
• Argues that the reduced federal jurisdiction exacerbates a patchwork of protections for these vulnerable waterbodies, therefore threatening the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.

Read the research:

Rajpreet Grewal & Melissa K. Scanlan, Navigating Rough Waters After Sackett v. EPA: Federal, Tribal, and State Strategies, 

51���� Center for Water Policy has posted their Water Policy Publications 2024 Report. This report, which can be downloaded from their website, gives us a snapshot of the important work the faculty, researchers and students have done this past year.

In 2024, the Water Policy Program at the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences engaged in multidisciplinary freshwater policy research. Their work appears in peer-reviewed articles, reports and policy briefs. Our faculty and researchers are working on complex water policy issues ranging from wetlands protection in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA to the legal framework that would be needed for Great Lakes offshore wind. Read more below and find links to each of our 2024 Water Policy Publications!