In 1969 the Cuyahoga River was on fire, not for the first time, but the tenth. While Clevelanders accepted this as a normal part of life in their industrial city, this environmental catastrophe stood for something bigger. America’s waters were polluted, unsafe, and dying. In 1972, the Clean Water Act, a bedrock environmental law that aims to end water pollution in the United States by regulating pollutants and setting standards for water quality, was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon, thereby promising the restoration and maintenance of “the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”
Clean water is often taken for granted. It is relied upon for our area’s rich agritourism and organic farming industries, a multitude of outdoor recreational activities, and the region’s economic vitality. However, all of this was left vulnerable in 2023 following a US Supreme Court decision. In Sackett versus the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) an Idaho couple sought to build a house on what an appeals court called “a soggy residential lot” near a lake. The EPA, one of two federal agencies charged with enforcement of the Clean Water Act, determined that there were wetlands on the property that classified as “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS)—that is, those with an ecologically significant nexus to traditional navigable waters. The agency ordered the couple to stop construction, and the Sacketts sued. The case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the couple’s lot was not subject to federal oversight.
The majority Court ruling stated that the Clean Water Act should apply only to “relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water,” as well as to wetlands that have “a continuous surface connection” to those waters, thereby restricting the scope of the Clean Water Act and changing the definition of WOTUS. Estimates suggest that two-thirds of Colorado’s waterways were left at risk following this decision.
Western states, Colorado included, rely upon monsoon rains, snowpack, and spring run-off to fill their ephemeral and intermittent streams and wetlands, many of which run on average for only four to 46 days per year. Because the revised Clean Water Act rules left Colorado’s non-perennial waters unprotected, Colorado lawmakers acted quickly and stepped in, approving a bipartisan measure in May 2024, HB 24-1379. Commonly known as the Dredge and Fill Program and administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, the bill regulates the discharge of dredged or fill material into state waters that are no longer protected by the federal Clean Water Act. Mandated by this bill is the creation of Regulation 87, a set of rules and regulations by which to manage the permitting and mitigation processes. With this bill, Colorado became the first, and to date the only, state in the nation to formally protect its vulnerable waterways.
While the legislation was signed into law on May 29, 2024, the framework for how the legislation would be administered, Regulation 87, was formulated over the next year and a half. During this time, a diverse group of stakeholders including conservation groups, water providers, industry, agriculture, and community voices came together for 48 meetings before a hearing was held in December 2025. In total 1500 individuals participated in the rule-making process, and the three-day hearing ended with the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) unanimously voting 9-0 to adopt “Reg. 87.”
Restoring safeguards to these wetlands and streams was a collaborative process that involved a fair amount of give and take. While conservation groups had wanted to include “public interest reviews,” community impact evaluations from proposed projects, the WQCC stated that such reviews would expand their authority well beyond water impacts. After much debate, the law also contains exemptions for activities such as maintenance work on irrigation ditches and canals with careful definition of “adjacency” and “close proximity” in relation to wetlands.
Another provision of Reg. 87 specifies that work disturbing less than one-tenth of an acre of wetland or a three-hundredths of an acre of a streambed also be exempted from oversight. WQCC leaders will require, as part of the newly passed rules, that permit seekers that are disrupting streams or wetlands perform mitigation of an equal amount on other nearby wetlands or streams to ensure environmental balance. Of note, key components of the rule are meant to streamline the process for stream restoration, particularly ephemeral stream projects designed solely for ecological benefit.
These waters protect our communities from floods, reduce the impacts of wildfire, help to filter drinking water, and preserve biodiversity. While the value of ecological services provided by state waters is broad, they also are a lifeline to the health of our economy. Water-based outdoor recreation alone contributed more than $7.2 billion in economic activity in Colorado and supported over 45,000 jobs in 2023. Another $7.5 billion in economic activity was generated by wildlife-related recreation in Colorado, including fishing and bird-watching, supporting over 46,000 jobs.
On February 9, final action was taken on this bill by the WQCC, and full implementation is expected by September 2026. The legislation is not intended to replace the US Army Corps of Engineers permitting program for dredge and fill activities, but rather to fill a gap with a science-based program that carries strong environmental safeguards and provides a clear, predictable permitting system for landowners and businesses.
Many call Western Colorado home for the abundant open spaces, the diverse and healthy landscapes, and the clean water that supports wildlife, recreation, and our livelihoods. These ephemeral and intermittent streams, that had been left vulnerable with the revision of the Clean Water Act, are hydrologically connected in our watersheds to the perennial streams and rivers that supply our communities and maintain healthy ecosystems. They are small, but their impact is mighty, and they have a disproportionate effect on the quality of life that Western Coloradans enjoy. Way to go, Colorado WQCC—thank you for protecting this most valuable of resources, clean water.
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