U.S. waters
2
4.1
- noun
:
aguas de EE. UU.
- Indeed, despite two decades of progress, large amounts of pollution continue to be dumped into U.S. waters.
- populations in U.S. waters
Examples
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Yet the public insists now more than ever that actions to protect the health of U.S. waters be strengthened.
Academic text (1993) -
The Navy conducts training exercises in U.S. waters to prepare for maritime operations.
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ILLUSTRATION: Figure 1. The five sea turtle species commonly found in coastal U.S. waters.
Academic text (1994) -
Ocean incineration of wastes is neither done in U.S. waters nor allowed under U.S. law.
Academic text (1993) -
Monomoy supports the single largest concentration of harbor seals in eastern U.S. waters.
Academic text (2000) -
As mentioned above, Spanish fishermen used to catch substantial quantities of squid in U.S. waters.
Academic text (1990) -
If this happens, aggressive enforcement of the Oil Pollution Act would, ironically, expose U.S. waters to an even greater risk of pollution.
Academic text (1993) -
More than one-third of this oil is transported through U.S. waters, with an average of nearly five tankers a day calling on the port of Houston and four a day calling on New York.
Academic text (1993) -
The commercial fisheries for the now threatened and endangered species of sea turtles in U.S. waters have been neither adequately described nor analyzed in detail.
Academic text (1994) -
The scope of mercury releases relevant to determining the causes of contamination in U.S. waters may be regional or even global rather than local, because mercury travels long distances in the air.
Academic text (2002)
Synonyms
6
4.9
The area of sea near a country's coast that the country controls
Sea within 12 nautical miles of United States coasts and territories where the country has control
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward combination of 'U.S.' (the country) and 'waters' (sea area), so a learner who knows both words will naturally infer it means the sea area belonging to or under the jurisdiction of the United States. Although the precise legal boundary (12 nautical miles) is technical, the general territorial sense is compositional and cross-linguistically common, making it readily understandable at B1.
Etymology
U.S. waters combines U.S. (the country) and waters (the sea near its coast). Imagine a line drawn a short distance from shore and the sea inside that line is where U.S. rules apply, so U.S. waters means the part of the sea 'under U.S. control'.