Florida environmentalists sued U.S. EPA today in an effort to overturn a rule that they say will allow polluted water to be pumped from farm fields and suburbs into the Everglades and other pristine water bodies.

The rule exempts water transfers from the Clean Water Act permitting system if such movements are not for industrial, municipal or commercial purposes.

David Guest, an attorney for Earthjustice, which filed the suit in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said the law requires those water transfers to be overseen by regulators.

"The Bush administration has no right to create exemptions in the Clean Water Act that endanger public drinking water supplies," Guest said in a statement. "The public won't stand for this last-ditch move to protect polluters."

EPA finalized the rule this month amid a court battle over the legality of pumping water from canals into the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee.

"Instead of tightening protections and cleaning up the pollution, the EPA chose to legalize it," said Manley Fuller, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation. "We had no choice but to file suit."

The conflict began with the Miccosukee Tribe and environmental groups filing federal lawsuits against the South Florida Water Management District over the district's pumping operations in Miami-Dade County and along the south shore of Lake Okeechobee. The district contended it should not be subject to the Clean Water Act provision because the water is moving within the same basin (E&ENews PM, June 1, 2006).

In 2004, the Miccosukee case went before the Supreme Court. The high court remanded the case to federal district court, which ruled water transfers require a permit if they move pollution from canals to the receiving water body. The case is currently under appeal.

EPA issued the proposed rule after entering the Okeechobee lawsuit on the side of the South Florida Water Management District in 2005.

An EPA spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing agency policy.

Click here to read the lawsuit.