FLOOD05728

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Water Quality/Quanity Relationships
• Date: 6/1/1989
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

1989]

WATER RIGHTS PROTECTION

the proposed 1977 revisions as a "scheme to insure that the Corp
Engineers respects environmental values within its traditional juris.
tion, and that the States are given the responsibility under section
to manage other sources of polIution."69
For the first time, wetlands protection was asserted in floor del
as an explicit rationale for 404 jurisdiction. Senator Robert Sta!for,
Vermont was concerned about the "destruction and degradatior
aquatic resources that results from replacing waters with dredged I
terial or filI material."70 Senator Iohn Chaffee of Rhode Island d\
on the contribution of wetlands to purifying water by filtration of J
lutants that "otherwise would enter into domestic water supplies" ,
"to preserv[ing] the waters for irrigation, for streams, estuaries, ;
ground water."71
In the context of the standoff between the House and the Ser
on the jurisdictional reach of section 404, two western Senators, l'v
colm Wallop of Wyoming and Gary Hart of Colorado, emerged as
key players in a significant set of compromises that became law.
members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Commit
both men had conducted field hearings in Iuly of 1977 and hear
wide range of criticism by water users in the West regarding the I'
Act.72 As a result of this and similar testimony, the Senate Commil
adopted (1) an amendment exempting irrigated agricultural rel"
flows from the section 402 discharge permit program,73 (2) a 404
emption for construction and maintenance of irrigation ditches,
time limits to speed the Corps' 404 permit review, (4) greater latitl
for 404 general and nationwide permits, and (5) provisions authoriz
the states to assume the 404 permit program.7.
On the floor, Senator Hart described the Bentsen navigable'
ters amendment as a "meat axe approach. "7' Senator Hart vigorou
supported Senator Muskie and the Committee on retaining the ju
dictional term "waters of the United States" for application of the'

69. 123 CoNG. REC. 26,721 (1977) (remarks of Sen. Muskie), reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE
TORY Of THE CLEAN WATER ACT, supra note 27, at 929.
70. 123 CONGo REC. 26,714 (1977) (remarks of Sen. Stafford). reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE
TORY OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT, supra note 27, at 910.
71. 123 CONGo REC. 26,716 (1977) (remarks of Sen. Chaffee), reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE
TORY OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT, supra note 27, at 917.
72. 122 CoNG. REC. 28.793 (1977) (remarks of Sen. Stafford), reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE
TORY OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT, supra note 27, at 882.
73. S. REP. No. 370, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 35, reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF
CLEAN WATER ACT, supra note 27, at 635, 668.
74. S. REP. No. 370, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 75-80, reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF
CLEAN WATER ACT, supra note 27, at 635, 708-13.
75. 123 CONGo REC. 26,725 (1977) (remarks or Sen. Hart), reprinted in 4 LEGISLATIVE. HISl'