The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 23 that the U.S. Clean Water Act does have authority to regulate pollutants in groundwater that reach key water-bodes indirectly from a point source such as a wastewater treatment plant or industrial facility. The case involves a sewage treatment permitting dispute in Maui, Hawaii.
While the much-awaited ruling, in a 6-3 decision written by Justice Stephen Breyer, rejected a 2018 decision by a San Francisco appeals court to allow a broad lawsuit by environmental groups to proceed and returned the case to that court, application of the law to groundwater "nonpoint source" pollutants is a victory for them..