a. Why did the tribe want C-11 defined as a point source?
b. What was the District's argument?
c. What did the Court rule?
d. The result in this case seems straightforward. Why did the District choose to litigate all the way to the Supreme Court? Wouldn't its time and money have been better spent solving the pollution problem?
Canals built throughout the 1900s to facilitate development in south Florida caused flooding and other problems. To solve these problems, the United States Army Corps of Engineers' built a vast array of levees, canals, pumps, and water storage areas. This litigation focuses on the pumping of groundwater and rainwater from canal C-11 into a wetland area (called WCA-3). Before entering C-11, the rainwater absorbs contaminants produced by human activities, including phosphorous from fertilizer used by farmers. When this phosphorous is pumped into WCA-3, it alters the balance of the WCA-3 ecosystem and stimulates the growth of algae and plants foreign to the Everglades.
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians was impatient with the pace of initiatives intended to restore the ecological integrity of the Everglades. The Tribe sued under the Clean Water Act to halt the pumping of water from C-11 into WCA-3. It alleged that C-11 was a point source and, therefore, could not discharge pollutants into WC-3 without a permit. The District argued that the canal was not a point source because it did not create the pollutants; it simply transported them. The Tribe filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted and the appellate court affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.