How do you determine if waters or wetlands fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (CWA)? Despite the fact that the CWA was passed more than 34 years ago, this question and others related to the act are still being asked.

Determining whether a wetland or modest stream is regulated as a “navigable water” of the United States under the CWA (“navigable in law”) or was “navigable in fact” at the time of statehood for purposes of determining stream/river channel ownership remains unclear.