WOTUS Action Alert: Protect Kentucky’s Waters

Click Here to Submit comments to EPA via the National WIlDLife Federation's portal

Comment on EPA’s September 2026 WOTUS Proposal by October 9
EPA and the Army Corps are considering another significant narrowing of the waters protected by the Clean Water Act. The September 2026 Supplement to its 2025 Proposal focuses on which streams qualify as “relatively permanent” and when wetlands have a sufficient “continuous surface connection.”

What EPA Is Considering

• Streams: Limits “relatively permanent” waters to essentially only perennial / continuously flowing streams. EPA acknowledges most intermittent streams would not meet this standard.
• Wetlands: Require continuous surface water connection between a wetland to another jurisdictional water. EPA expects the majority of current wetlands to fail this test.
• 30-day bright line: Allows only one interruption of perennial/continuous flow or connection of up to 30 consecutive days under specified conditions annually. I.E. – a stream can go dry or a wetland become disconnected only once during the year for up to 30 days due to normal, predictable causes.

Why This Matters in Kentucky
Kentucky is especially vulnerable because state law now ties much of Kentucky’s water jurisdiction to the federal WOTUS definition.
Kentucky’s Division of Water has already warned EPA “relatively permanent waters should not be limited to [strictly] perennial waters” in Kentucky and that further federal narrowing will almost certainly result in a significant loss of protection for Kentucky waters and wetlands.
Kentucky DOW’s analysis of the 2025 proposal estimated that only about 24,869 of Kentucky’s 93,776 stream miles could remain protected under one continuously flowing-stream scenario. A narrower alternative fell to 13,093 miles. DOW also estimated only 44,285 of 324,233 existing wetland acres would remain protected under the wetland approach it analyzed.
Those figures do not estimate the new September 2026 supplement. However, the National Resources Defense Council estimates only 6% of wetlands would retain protection nationally, including only 692 acres of Kentucky wetlands.
For Kentucky, the concern is straightforward. Our headwaters, intermittent streams, wetlands, springs, and karst groundwater systems function together. Water does not stop moving through a watershed simply because surface flow temporarily stops.

Make Your Voice Heard: Comments are due October 9, 2026.
The National Wildlife Federation has created an easy Action Alert you can use to submit a comment.
Please personalize your comment. Explain why a particular Kentucky stream, wetland, drinking-water source, fishing area, community, or watershed matters to you. The EPA treats identical and near-identical submissions as mass-mail campaigns and may post only one representative comment with the campaign total. EPA also advises that specific comments supported by facts, reasoning, and personal experience are more likely to inform its decision.
​
​Use the NWF Action Alert, but make the comment your own. Ideas to Make Your WOTUS Comment Personal and Effective:
1.Why does clean water matter to you? Name a Kentucky river, creek, lake, wetland, spring, or watershed you fish, paddle, hunt, swim, farm near, or rely on for drinking water.
2.Protect the whole watershed. Explain that headwaters, intermittent streams, wetlands, springs, and groundwater are connected. A stream does not stop affecting downstream water simply because it stops flowing for part of the year.
3.Kentucky is especially vulnerable. Kentucky has more than 93,000 miles of rivers and streams, and a large share are intermittent or ephemeral. EPA acknowledges most intermittent streams would fail the new proposed standard.
4.Kentucky has already lost most of its wetlands. Roughly 80% of Kentucky’s historic wetlands are gone. Explain why the wetlands that remain matter for flood storage, water quality, wildlife, and groundwater.
5.Kentucky cannot easily replace lost federal protections. State law now ties much of Kentucky’s water jurisdiction to WOTUS. When federal protection shrinks, Kentucky’s protection can shrink with it.
6.Make a clear request. Ask EPA and the Army Corps to reject the new perennial-flow and perennial-surface-water tests and maintain a WOTUS definition that protects connected waters and downstream communities.
Choose two or three points and make them your own. Personal comments about places, experiences, and concerns are more useful than identical form comments.