Cite as: 511 U. S. 700 (1994)
Syllabus
(a) A State may impose conditions on certifications insofar as necessary to enforce a designated use contained in the State's water quality standard. Petitioners' claim that the State may only impose water quality limitations specifically tied to a "discharge" is contradicted by § 401(d)'s reference to an applicant's compliance, which allows a State to impose "other limitations" on a project. This view is consistent with EPA regulations providing that activities—not merely discharges— must comply with state water quality standards, a reasonable interpretation of § 401 which is entitled to deference. State standards adopted pursuant to § 303 are among the "other limitations" with which a State may ensure compliance through the § 401 certification process. Although § 303 is not specifically listed in § 401(d), the statute allows States to impose limitations to ensure compliance with § 301 of the Act, and § 301 in turn incorporates § 303 by reference. EPA's view supports this interpretation. Such limitations are also permitted by § 401(d)'s reference to "any other appropriate" state law requirement. Pp. 710-713. (b) Washington's requirement is a limitation necessary to enforce the designated use of the river as a fish habitat. Petitioners err in asserting that § 303 requires States to protect such uses solely through implementation of specific numerical "criteria." The section's language makes it plain that water quality standards contain two components and is most naturally read to require that a project be consistent with both: the designated use and the water quality criteria. EPA has not interpreted § 303 to require the States to protect designated uses exclusively through enforcement of numerical criteria. Moreover, the Act permits enforcement of broad, narrative criteria based on, for example, "aesthetics." There is no anomaly in the State's reliance on both use designations and criteria to protect water quality. Rather, it is petitioners' reading that leads to an unreasonable interpretation of the Act, since specified criteria cannot reasonably be expected to anticipate all the water quality issues arising from every activity that can affect a State's hundreds of individual water bodies. Washington's requirement also is a proper application of the state and federal antidegradation regulations, as it ensures that an existing instream water use will be "maintained and protected." Pp. 713-719. (c) Petitioners' assertion that the Act is only concerned with water quality, not quantity, makes an artificial distinction, since a sufficient lowering of quantity could destroy all of a river's designated uses, and since the Act recognizes that reduced stream flow can constitute water pollution. Moreover, §§ 101(g) and 510(2) of the Act do not limit the scope of water pollution controls that may be imposed on users who have obtained, pursuant to state law, a water allocation. Those provisions preserve each State's authority to allocate water quantity as between
701
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