About the Water Team

The Water Team

The Federal Water Quality Coalition is represented by attorneys in the Water Team at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.
The B&T Water Team is a group of highly-experienced attorneys, based in the Chicago and Washington, D.C. offices of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, who are committed to serving the needs of clients facing clean water issues nationwide. This team is part of the B&T Environmental Department, a group of 25 dedicated environmental professionals throughout our offices.

The goal of the B&T Water Team is to design solutions to clean water problems that will help its clients to achieve their strategic business or municipal objectives, while complying fully with legal and regulatory requirements.

The team draws on substantial, detailed knowledge of the clean water regulatory system, developed through years of practice in the water arena. Members of the team, which includes former regulators, have a wealth of experience representing businesses, industry sectors, municipalities, trade organizations, and issue-specific coalitions.

The team regularly tackles highly complex, cutting-edge issues such as obtaining permits in impaired waters, developing TMDLs for legacy contaminants (including mercury and PCBs), and advocating methods to ensure the application of sound science in the development and implementation of water quality standards and regulations.

Team members help clients find solutions to federal and state issues by applying their knowledge of, and extensive contacts with, staff and officials at U.S. EPA and other government agencies in Washington, D.C., as well as legislative staff.

Team members have been appointed to Federal Advisory Committees, including for TMDLs and Stormwater, and also manages the Federal Water Quality Coalition, recognized as a national voice of the regulated community on clean water issues.

Team members address difficult facility-specific issues “on the ground” in the states, by working with state agencies and U.S. EPA regional offices on those issues as they arise in regulatory, compliance and enforcement settings.

Team members also are involved in litigation across the country on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters at the federal and state levels, and have participated in numerous challenges to U.S. EPA and state rules and permitting decisions.

B&T Water Team services cover the broad range of water issues facing the regulated community, from policies and rulemaking to permitting and enforcement.

  • Participation in developing federal and state policies and rules, including litigation
  • Compliance counseling
  • State and Federal Individual and General Permit negotiations, appeals, and enforcement
  • Wet weather (CSO and storm water) rulemaking, permitting, and enforcement
  • Preparing comments and challenging state lists of impaired waters
  • Participation in the TMDL process, including legal challenges
  • Antidegradation planning
  • Assistance obtaining variances from water quality standards