The conservative Supreme Court aligned with liberal San Francisco on Tuesday, ruling that federal environmental regulators overstepped their authority by attempting to impose vague limits on how much raw sewage the California city may pump into the Pacific Ocean.

The justices found that the EPA cannot impose generic prohibitions against violating water quality standards. The ruling could affect businesses and other cities that sit on bodies of water, including Boston.

The Supreme Court has made it harder for environmental regulators to limit water pollution, ruling for San Francisco in a case about the discharge of raw sewage that sometimes occurs during heavy rain

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Environmental Protection Agency in a ruling on Tuesday involving a wastewater treatment facility owned by the city of San Francisco that could make it harder for regulators to police water pollution.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority ruled for San Francisco in limiting the power of environmental regulators to prevent ocean discharges of polluted stormwater.