Water Resources

Water resource projects: We advise local, regional, state and tribal agencies, as well as private water users and non-governmental organizations, on a broad range of projects and strategies addressing development and management of water resources. Our work includes permitting, water quality standards (drinking, treatment and otherwise), species and habitat issues, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and state and federal litigation. Examples include:

• Represented a California joint powers agency in connection with water and natural resources issues arising from state-federal coordinated operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.
• Represented a Colorado public utility on federal and state permitting processes (including water quality, wetlands and associated environmental reviews) for a Front Range public water supply project.
• Advised a California water storage district on multiple water banking and exchange projects in the state’s Central Valley.
• Advised a Los Angeles public utility in connection with multiple treatment facilities and well fields in and near the San Fernando Valley.
• Advised a California public agency in connection with a dispute over significant subsidence damage to a major conveyance facility arising from nearby groundwater pumping.
• Provided strategic advice to a California public agency on its implementation of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, a landmark effort to restore the flows, habitat and salmon population of central California’s longest river.

Permitting and compliance with water quality regulations: We regularly advise public and private stakeholders on complex water quality permitting and compliance issues. For example:

• Represented public utilities and developers in numerous defense proceedings before state and federal regulators (including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Water Quality Control Division and California Regional Water Quality Control Boards). We advise clients on regulatory compliance with wastewater treatment, stormwater, sanitary sewer overflow and biosolid legal requirements, as well as successfully negotiating resolution of alleged violations.
• Advised a California water district in proceedings to establish new water quality standards for a Bureau of Reclamation conveyance infrastructure.
• Advised an industrial client on NPDES permit applicability for its operations and assisted the client in applying for permits authorizing the discharge of groundwater and stormwater from the site.
• Represented a Utah municipality in NPDES permitting requirements associated with city drinking water sources from historic mining tunnels, including a TMDL and long-term stipulated compliance order.
• Represented the developer of a 1,000-acre commercial mixed-use development in Colorado responding to a stormwater notice of violation and developing a comprehensive stormwater permitting and compliance strategy for ongoing development at the site.

Navigating Section 404 and related requirements: Our comprehensive approach to the CWA’s Section 404 wetlands permitting is based on an array of permitting, compliance and litigation experience. Our broad Section 404 experience, paired with experience in federal and state natural resource laws, provides us with the ability to navigate complex Section 404 permitting processes. For example:

• Assisted clients in Section 404 permitting and regulatory compliance, which included obtaining a “no permit required” determination from the Corps for a mine reclamation project.
• Advised clients on the federal regulatory developments regarding the CWA’s “Waters of the United States” jurisdiction, as well as in reviewing and commenting on permit applications nationwide, including Section 404 permits for large infrastructure projects.

Litigating water resources issues: Our team has successfully litigated water resources disputes from all angles.  Examples include:

• Represented a Colorado municipality in successfully defending permits for a wastewater treatment plant against legal challenges from a neighboring jurisdiction.
• Represented a California public agency in complex multi-party state and federal litigation (NEPA, Reclamation Act, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California and federal Endangered Species Acts) over the state-federal joint long term operations plan for the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.
• On behalf of a California water storage district, secured a favorable resolution on all counts (including a full award of attorney fees) in CEQA challenges to three water banks in central California.
• Our lawyers have also brought numerous CWA challenges to agency decisions and citizen enforcement actions, including challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of a Section 404 permit for a 1,000-acre recreational reservoir in southern Georgia, Georgia River Network v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 517 Fed. Appx. 699 (11th Cir. 2013), and challenging the Corps’ issuance of Nationwide Permit 13 for bank stabilization structures in Nat'l Wildlife Fedn v. United States Army Corps of Eng'rs, 170 F. Supp. 3d 6 (D.D.C. 2016).