High court to consider case about reach of clean-water law

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case about the reach of a federal clean-water law.

The justices agreed on Tuesday to hear a case involving the Clean Water Act. The act requires polluters to get a permit when they plan to release pollution from a source such as a pipe or well to certain bodies of water such as rivers and lakes, which are called “navigable waters.”

The issue the Supreme Court agreed to decide a case involving whether permits are required under the law when a pollutant is released into soil or groundwater but later reaches navigable waters.

The case involves treated wastewater from the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility in Hawaii.

More than a dozen states and the Trump administration have asked the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute.