US Defeats Challenge of Irrigation Runoff Exemption on Appeal

The US escaped a lawsuit from environmental protection groups Friday after a federal appeals court ruled its California irrigation project qualifies for an exemption under the Clean Water Act.

The federal Grassland Bypass Project is exempt from the CWA’s prohibition on discharging pollutants into navigable waters even if its flows contain pollutants from activities unrelated to crop production, Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez said.

“If plaintiffs’ theory were correct that for the exemption to apply, irrigation return flows cannot contain any amount of nonpoint source pollution unrelated to irrigated agriculture, then all three of Congress’s aims would be thwarted,” Sanchez of ...