OVERVIEW -

In the past year, federal circuit courts have already issued five decisions addressing the question of whether permitting obligations and other liability under the Clean Water Act (CWA) apply to leaking pits, pipes, and other discharges reaching navigable waters through groundwater. In each case, environmental groups brought CWA citizenc suits alleging that releases from these settling ponds, pipelines, and injection wells constitute pollutant discharges to navigable waters without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.