Groups sue EPA to force Clean Water Act water quality criteria for herbicide atrazine

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 — Three conservation and public health groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Oct 14, asking a court to order the agency to set national Clean Water Act water quality criteria for the herbicide atrazine, a process it began in 1999.¹

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Environmental Health and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.² It names the EPA and Administrator Lee Zeldin as defendants.¹

The complaint alleges that EPA has violated its mandatory duty under section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act.¹ That section requires the agency to issue water quality criteria.¹ As an alternative claim, the groups say the agency's failure to act is "unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed" under the Administrative Procedure Act.¹

According to the complaint, EPA published draft aquatic life criteria for atrazine in 2001 and revised draft criteria in 2003.¹ In 2005 it indicated it was developing human health criteria.¹ The groups allege that EPA "has never developed or published final atrazine criteria for the protection of aquatic life or human health."¹

The complaint says about 70 million pounds of atrazine are used in the United States each year.¹ Citing an Environmental Working Group analysis, it says atrazine has been detected in drinking water in at least 36 states at over 2,000 utilities, serving approximately 40 million people.¹

"We’re taking the Trump administration to court because it’s refusing to protect Americans from the well-documented dangers of the cancer-linked, hormone-disrupting pesticide atrazine," said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity.²

The groups ask the court to order EPA to develop criteria for aquatic life and human health, with enforceable dates for proposed and final rulemaking.¹ According to the complaint, they sent EPA a notice of intent to sue on May 28, 2026.¹