Water

MD’s experience in all aspects of water law is unsurpassed in Ohio. Our broad experience stems from decades of complex issues arising under the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, related state regulations, and common law.

Our water lawyers frequently address surface water, stormwater, drinking, and groundwater issues for industrial and municipal clients. MD has negotiated and modified dozens of wet weather-related consent decrees with total programmatic expenditures exceeding $7 billion. The firm’s experience with Clean Water Act Integrated Planning includes leading the development of the first fully-integrated plan in Ohio, one of the very first in the nation. We frequently negotiate National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit negotiations for both government and private sector clients, permits to install, stormwater construction permits, stream incident reporting, public water system regulation, and management of water quality issues.

A deep familiarity with federal and state safe drinking water requirements allows us to counsel clients on the myriads of details arising under the SDWA. This includes public water system regulation, permitting and licensing requirements, source water protection, and water treatment implications.

We counsel clients on property rights in groundwater, dredge and fill permits, water quality certifications, Ohio’s reasonable use doctrine, riparian rights, and public trust issues. We address other surface water issues, groundwater issues, and stormwater issues, including municipal and industrial programs and wetlands. MD’s water litigation experience encompasses Great Lakes and public trust issues, as well as Ohio law regarding reasonable use of water, nuisance, and trespass.

Highly experienced regarding implementation of US EPA’s Integrated Planning Framework, we counsel local political subdivisions on opportunities to match permitting and enforcement obligations under the CWA and SDWA with redevelopment and other local improvement goals and programs. US EPA’s Integrated Planning initiative enables cities to prioritize expenditures for CWA compliance and to integrate those capital investments with other community objectives such as economic development, brownfield redevelopment, and utilization of green infrastructure. We work with clients to address the challenges of affordability in achieving regulatory compliance on behalf of several local public entities. MD has success in building consent decrees around a municipality’s integrated plan.

The regulatory strategy to mitigate nutrient enrichment in Ohio’s many lakes, rivers, and streams continues to develop. The evolving regulatory framework for nutrient management poses new challenges for the water and wastewater industries. MD has a unique understanding of the different strategies currently utilized to manage nutrient pollution reductions and how these strategies will impact municipalities in Ohio, particularly communities on Lake Erie.