The Maui County Council’s 5-4 decision to settle a Clean Water Act case has averted an uncertain outcome by a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court.

Environmentalists were worried that an unfavorable ruling on the lawsuit over the county’s wastewater treatment facility in Lahaina could have ended up gutting the Clean Water Act, opening up the nation’s navigable waters to pollution.

“The Maui County Council showed true leadership today in its decision to settle outside of court and not risk a historic standoff over the future of America’s clean water at the Supreme Court,” said Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney at Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office, in a statement.

“This decision is a win not only for Maui, but for the country at large,” he said.

Earthjustice represents Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club-Maui Group, Surfrider Foundation and West Maui Preservation Association. The groups sued the county in 2012 after they tried for years to reach an agreement with the county over its wastewater reclamation facility, which has been releasing treated water into the ground that ends up entering the ocean and harming coral reefs.

Courtesy: Jen Smith

District and appeals courts have ruled that the county needs a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the facility, which handles about 3 million to 5 million gallons of sewage a day.