Nationwide Permit 16 authorizes the return water from an upland contained dredged material disposal area back into waters of the United States. This permit acknowledges that while the disposal of dredged material in an upland area is not typically regulated under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the return of water from that disposal area into a jurisdictional waterbody is legally considered a discharge of dredged material . The scope of this permit is restricted to the return water itself and does not authorize the actual dredging activity, which must be permitted separately. The return water must be managed such that it meets applicable water quality standards, and the containment area must be designed to effectively settle out solids before the water is released.
The 2026 reissuance of NWP 16 maintains the same national terms and conditions as the 2021 version without substantive changes. The Corps of Engineers reevaluated the permit's individual and cumulative effects and determined that the existing qualitative and quantitative limits remain sufficient to ensure that authorized activities result in no more than minimal adverse environmental impacts . While the permit text remains unchanged, the supporting decision document has been updated with the most recent environmental baseline data. This includes results from current national-level ecological assessments, such as the 2022 National Lakes Assessment and the 2021 National Wetland Condition Assessment, to ensure the cumulative impact review is grounded in modern data.
Dredging contractors and facility managers who use upland containment areas for dredged material disposal typically use this permit. It is essential for projects where water must be decanted from settled dredged material and returned to the source waterbody or adjacent jurisdictional waters.
The Corps determined that the reissuance of NWP 16 results in 'no effect' on federally-listed endangered or threatened species or their critical habitat. This finding is supported by General Condition 18, which requires project-specific ESA Section 7 consultation for any activity that 'might affect' listed resources; no activity is authorized until that process is completed . Compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is ensured through General Condition 20, which triggers mandatory Pre-Construction Notification (PCN) if an activity has the potential to affect historic properties. For Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), the Corps found that district engineers can apply regional or activity-specific conditions to minimize adverse effects to sensitive aquatic environments during the return water process.
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