OptiWire makes plastic-coated wire. The process generates acidic and alkaline wastewater. OptiWire has a system in its plant to treat the wastewater. The water then flows into an open pit outside the plant and through a pipe that connects with the public sewer system three hundred feet away.

Without a search warrant or OptiWire’s express consent, agents for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) take samples from the pit. Based on the samples, OptiWire is charged with violations of the Clean Water Act.

Does the EPA agents’ sampling of the water in the pit constitute a reasonable search? Yes. The U.S.

Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protects against ______________ searches. The EPA agents’ “search” was not ______________. OptiWire had no ______________ expectation of privacy in the wastewater, and therefore, it had no Fourth Amendment ______________ with respect to the agents’ sampling of it. The water in the pit flows into the public sewer, which is only three hundred feet away. Once the wastewater reaches that point, any member of the public can take a sample.