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Keywords

summary judgmentclean water act

summary judgment

Related Cases

South Florida Water Management Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, 541 U.S. 95, 124 S.Ct. 1537, 158 L.Ed.2d 264, 58 ERC 1001, 72 USLW 4247, 34 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,021, 04 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2433, 2004 Daily Journal D.A.R. 3573, 17 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 195

Facts

The Central and South Florida Flood Control Project was established to manage drainage and flood control in the Everglades. The C-11 canal collects water from urban and agricultural areas, while the S-9 pump station moves this water into the WCA-3 wetland. The District impounds water in WCA-3 to prevent flooding in populated areas. The Tribe claimed that the operation of S-9 required an NPDES permit because it added pollutants to WCA-3, while the District argued that the two bodies of water were not distinct, and thus no permit was needed.

The Central and South Florida Flood Control Project (Project) consists of a vast array of levees, canals, pumps, and water impoundment areas in the land between south Florida's coastal hills and the Everglades.

Issue

Does the operation of the S-9 pump station, which transfers water from the C-11 canal to the WCA-3 wetland, constitute a 'discharge of a pollutant' under the Clean Water Act requiring an NPDES permit?

The question, it contends, is whether the operation of the S-9 pump constitutes the 'discharge of [a] pollutant' within the meaning of the Act.

Rule

The Clean Water Act defines 'discharge of a pollutant' as any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source, and a 'point source' is defined as any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance from which pollutants are or may be discharged.

The Act defines 'discharge of a pollutant' as 'any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source,' § 1362(12), and defines 'point source' as 'any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance' 'from which pollutants are or may be discharged,' § 1362(14).

Analysis

The Supreme Court analyzed whether the S-9 pump station constituted a point source under the Clean Water Act. It rejected the District's argument that a point source must originate pollutants, stating that a point source need only convey pollutants to navigable waters. The Court also noted that the distinction between C-11 and WCA-3 was not adequately established, as factual issues remained unresolved regarding their hydrological relationship.

The District Court correctly characterized the flow through S-9 as nonnatural, and it appears that if S-9 were shut down, the water in the C-11 canal might for a brief time flow east, rather than west. But the record also suggests that if S-9 were shut down, the area drained by C-11 would flood, which might mean C-11 would no longer be a distinct body of navigable water, but instead part of a larger water body extending over WCA-3 and the C-11 basin.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court vacated the Eleventh Circuit's judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings to determine whether C-11 and WCA-3 are meaningfully distinct water bodies, which would affect the need for an NPDES permit for the S-9 pump station.

We find that further development of the record is necessary to resolve the dispute over the validity of the distinction between C-11 and WCA-3.

Who won?

The Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of the Everglades prevailed in the lower courts, as the District Court granted them summary judgment based on the determination that the C-11 canal and WCA-3 were distinct water bodies.

The District Court granted the Tribe summary judgment, reasoning as follows: 'In this case an addition of pollutants exists because undisputedly water containing pollutants is being discharged through S-9 from C-11 waters into the Everglades, both of which are separate bodies of United States water with … different quality levels.'

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