Opinion of the Court
in other laws. The CWA repeatedly uses “waters” in contexts that confirm the term refers to bodies of open water. See 33 U. S. C. §1267(i)(2)(D) (“the waters of the Chesapeake Bay”); §1268(a)(3)(I) (“the open waters of each of the Great Lakes”); §1324(d)(4)(B)(ii) (“lakes and other surface waters”); §1330(g)(4)(C)(vii) (“estuarine waters”); §1343(c)(1) (“the waters of the territorial seas, the contiguous zone, and the oceans”); §§1346(a)(1), 1375a(a) (“coastal recreation waters”); §1370 (state “boundary waters”). The use of “waters” elsewhere in the U. S. Code likewise correlates to rivers, lakes, and oceans.[1]
Statutory history points in the same direction. The CWA’s predecessor statute covered “interstate or navigable waters” and defined “interstate waters” as “all rivers, lakes, and other waters that flow across or form a part of State boundaries.” 33 U. S. C. §§1160(a), 1173(e) (1970 ed.) (emphasis added); see also Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, 30 Stat. 1151 (codified, as amended, at 33 U. S. C. §403) (prohibiting unauthorized obstructions “to the navigable capacity of any of the waters of the United States”).
This Court has understood the CWA’s use of “waters” in the same way. Even as Riverside Bayview grappled with whether adjacent wetlands could fall within the CWA’s coverage, it acknowledged that wetlands are not included in “traditional notions of ‘waters.’ ” 474 U. S., at 133. It explained that the term conventionally refers to “hydrographic features” like “rivers” and “streams.” Id., at 131. SWANCC went even further, repeatedly describing the “waters” covered by the Act as “open water” and suggesting
- ↑ See, e.g., 16 U. S. C. §745 (“the waters of the seacoast … the waters of the lakes”); §4701(a)(7) (“waters of the Chesapeake Bay”); 33 U. S. C. §4 (“the waters of the Mississippi River and its tributaries”); 43 U. S. C. §390h–8(a) (“the waters of Lake Cheraw, Colorado … the waters of the Arkansas River”); 46 U. S. C. §70051 (allowing the Coast Guard to take control of particular vessels during an emergency in order to “prevent damage or injury to any harbor or waters of the United States”).
