Maui Urges Supreme Court to Topple Groundwater Ruling

Maui shouldn’t be held liable for discharging treated wastewater that seeped through groundwater into the Pacific Ocean, the county told the Supreme Court May 9.

The Clean Water Act requires a permit for the release of pollutants from a point source—a single, identifiable source of pollution, such as a pipe or a drain. But it doesn’t require a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a nonpoint source, such as groundwater, Maui argued.

The Ninth Circuit found that the Maui County-owned Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility required a Clean Water Act discharge permit ...