United States v. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Richard G. Stearns, U.S. District Judge]

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA or Act) authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prescribe criteria specifying when public water systems are “required” to install a filtration system. The Act also provides, however, that courts asked to issue an injunction enforcing the EPA’s filtration standards “may enter . . . such judgment as protection of public health may require . . . .” This appeal requires us to resolve the apparent tension between these two provisions. Specifically, we must decide whether the SDWA requires courts to order the statutorily prescribed remedy of filtration for violations of its substantive provisions and the regulations promulgated thereunder, or, alternatively, whether courts have the authority in SDWA cases not to order such remedies in those instances where the equities are found to counsel forbearance. Suffice it to say, we are not faced with an imminent threat to the public health in this case; none has been alleged by the United States on appeal. Rather, this dispute mainly has to do with the operation of an EPA rule that purports to oblige public water systems to install a filtration system if they fail to meet certain regulatory standards by a prescribed deadline — an obligation that extends into the future indefinitely, and that does not account for the present and future safety of the system’s drinking water.