ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20129
No(s). 23-15599 (9th Cir. Sep 5, 2025)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in part for the Bureau of Reclamation in a challenge to a California irrigation project that has operated without an NPDES permit since 1997 pursuant to a statutory exemption for “discharges composed entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture.” Fishing groups argued the project violated the CWA by discharging pollutants unrelated to irrigated agriculture into navigable waters without a permit. A district court concluded the Bureau carried its burden of establishing that the irrigated return flow exemption applied because each alleged pollutant was either added from a nonpoint source or was added from a point source that related to the project's overall drainage function. The appellate court agreed that the exemption applied to irrigation return flows that did not contain additional point source discharges from activities unrelated to crop production, and that no genuine dispute existed as to whether any of the alleged pollutants originated from an additional point source unrelated to crop production. It affirmed summary judgment for the Bureau.