The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a dispute from San Francisco challenging the Environmental Protection Agency over guidelines for water pollutant limits.

The case, City and County of San Francisco v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will be heard next term, which begins in October.

San Francisco argued in its filing that the Clean Water Act requires the EPA and states to provide specific pollutant limits for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit holders.

The city’s petition said the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the Clean Water Act requires the EPA to set specific limits for surface water quality standards, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the EPA had to issue permits with only generic standards that say not “too much” pollution.  

The circuit split invites the high court to settle the dispute.

“These generic water quality terms expose San Francisco and numerous permit holders nationwide to enforcement actions while failing to tell them how much they need to limit or treat their discharges to comply with the Act,” the lawyers for San Francisco wrote in its filing.

It took at least four justices to decide to weigh the dispute.

The court didn’t issue a comment with the order granting the case. 

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System regulates sources of water in the U.S. to address pollution. The program is designed to create permitting and enforcement under the Clean Water Act.

The EPA had urged the court not to take up the dispute, arguing California has its own authority over issuing NPDES permits. 

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.