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ADEQ Navigable Waters Protection Rule Screening Toolkit

ADEQ developed the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) Screening Toolkit to help the agency and permittees assess which waters may be jurisdictional under the Clean Water Act. The toolkit guides users through available and credible information and data to make these assessments.

The Screening Toolkit determines:

  • No, the surface water is not likely a WOTUS and/or a discharge isn’t likely to reach a WOTUS and likely doesn’t need a CWA permit
  • Yes, the surface water is likely jurisdictional and/or a discharge is likely to reach a WOTUS and needs a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit
  • Maybe the surface water is a WOTUS and/or discharge will reach a WOTUS and further evaluation is needed

Screening Toolkit Flow Chart | View/Download Image >

The Screening Toolkit is limited to known sources of information and data to ADEQ. Additional information and data may be available and should be reviewed to determine if it is credible and can be included in the Screening Toolkit or contribute to a weight of evidence for flow regime assignments.

The Screening Toolkit applies the:

  • U.S. Geological Survey StreamStats Flow (Raindrop) Path Tool | View >
  • eMaps layers | View >
    • Traditionally Navigable Waters
    • Flow Regimes - Perennial Intermittent and Ephemeral Streams

Screening Toolkit

For the ‘Maybe’ waters, ADEQ developed additional Evaluation Tools to estimate the likeliness that a surface water is a WOTUS. The ‘Maybe’ indicates all or a portion of the surface water does not have an assigned flow regime or there is an ephemeral break in the flow path needing further evaluation to determine if there is likely flow in a typical year.

The development of Evaluation Tools is ongoing, and the information on this page will be updated as new tools or refinements to existing tools are provided. Evaluation tools include, but are not limited to: 

  • Riparian Vegetation Tool | Materials > Coming Soon!
  • ADEQ Snowpack Tool | Materials > Coming Soon!
  • ADEQ Groundwater Tool | Materials > Coming Soon!

ADEQ will incorporate federal Implementation Tools, such as the Antecedent Precipitation Tool (APT) and the Streamflow Duration Assessment Methodology (SDAM), and guidance into assessments as they become available | Learn More >