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Articles 1 - 21 of 21
Full-Text Articles in Law
Unmuddying The Waters: Evaluating The Legal Basis Of The Human Right To Water Under Treaty Law, Customary International Law, And The General Principles Of Law, Ndjodi Ndeunyema
Unmuddying The Waters: Evaluating The Legal Basis Of The Human Right To Water Under Treaty Law, Customary International Law, And The General Principles Of Law, Ndjodi Ndeunyema
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article evaluates the existence of a freestanding, general human right to water under each of the three principal sources of international law: treaty, customary international law, and the general principles of law. To date, the right to water has been derived from treaty law, most prominently as part of the right to an adequate standard of living in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (as implied by General Comment 15 to the ICESCR). The potential importance of a non-treaty based right to water––as a matter of customary international law or a general principle …
Property, Unbundled Water Entitlements, And Anticommons Tragedies: A Cautionary Tale From Australia, Paul Babie, Paul Leadbeter, Kyriaco Nikias
Property, Unbundled Water Entitlements, And Anticommons Tragedies: A Cautionary Tale From Australia, Paul Babie, Paul Leadbeter, Kyriaco Nikias
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
As water becomes an increasingly scarce resource, a lack of clarity in relation to its use can produce both conflict among and inefficient use by users. In order to encourage markets in water and to ensure the viability and functionality of those markets, governments in many jurisdictions have moved away from commons property as a means of water allocation, and towards systems of private property in water. In doing so, one policy and legal option is “unbundling”, which seeks carefully to define both the entitlement to water and its separation into constituent parts. Advocates claim that unbundling makes water rights …
Evolution Of Water Institutions In The Indus River Basin: Reflections From The Law Of The Colorado River, Erum Sattar, Jason Robison, Daniel Mccool
Evolution Of Water Institutions In The Indus River Basin: Reflections From The Law Of The Colorado River, Erum Sattar, Jason Robison, Daniel Mccool
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Transboundary water institutions in the Indus River Basin can be fairly characterized as broken in key respects. International relations between India and Pakistan over the Indus Waters Treaty, as well as interprovincial relations within Pakistan over the 1991 Water Accord, speak to this sentiment. Stemming from research undertaken by the authors for the Harvard Water Federalism Project and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), this Article seeks to spur the evolution of the Indus River Basin’s water institutions by offering a comparative perspective from North America’s most “institutionally encompassed” basin, the Colorado River Basin. Mindful of the importance …
Energy-Water Nexus, The Clean Power Plan, And Integration Of Water Resource Concerns Into Energy Decision-Making, Sarah Ladin
Energy-Water Nexus, The Clean Power Plan, And Integration Of Water Resource Concerns Into Energy Decision-Making, Sarah Ladin
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
Energy regulation in the United States is now at a crossroads. The EPA has begun the process to officially repeal the Clean Power Plan and currently has no plan to replace it with new rulemaking to regulate carbon emissions from the U.S. energy sector. Even though the Clean Power Plan is more or less at its end, its regulatory structure stands as a model of the way decision-makers in the United States regulate the energy sector and the environment. Since the beginning of the modern environmental legal system, decision-makers have chosen to silo the system. Statutes and agencies focus on …
Avoiding Jeopardy, Without The Questions: Recovery Implementation Programs For Endangered Species In Western River Basins, Reed D. Benson
Avoiding Jeopardy, Without The Questions: Recovery Implementation Programs For Endangered Species In Western River Basins, Reed D. Benson
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
The application of the Endangered Species Act to water resources has generated much controversy in the American West. In several western river basins, however, Recovery Implementation Programs (RIPs) provide an alternative, collaborative approach to ESA compliance. These programs offer an enhanced role for states and stakeholders in ESA decisionmaking, and increased certainty that ESA requirements will not disrupt ongoing water project operations and established uses. This Article examines the origins, purposes, and elements of various RIPs, with particular emphasis on these programs’ approach to compliance with the requirements of ESA section 7 for federal agency actions. The Article also considers …
International Law's Lessons For The Law Of The Lakes, Joseph W. Dellapenna
International Law's Lessons For The Law Of The Lakes, Joseph W. Dellapenna
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The eight Governors of the Great Lakes States signed a proposed new compact for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence basin on December 13, 2005, and they joined with the Premiers of Ontario and Québec in a parallel agreement on the same topic on the same day. Neither document is legally binding-the proposed new compact because it has not yet been ratified by any State nor consented to by Congress; the parallel agreement because it is not intended to be legally binding. Both documents are designed to preclude the export of water from the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin apart from …
The Great Lakes As An Environmental Heritage Of Humankind: An International Law Perspective, A. Dan Tarlock
The Great Lakes As An Environmental Heritage Of Humankind: An International Law Perspective, A. Dan Tarlock
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Since 1985, the eight Great Lakes states and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have cooperated to prevent almost all diversions of water from the Great Lakes basin. In 2005, the eight states signed an Agreement to create a tiered system of reviews for diversions and a draft interstate Compact, which creates a binding process to regulate diversions. This cooperation is primarily a state initiative, supported by the federal governments in both countries, which has paid little attention to the international character of the lakes. This Essay argues that there are three major benefits to the region from the …
Transferring Water In The American West: 1987-2005, Jedidiah Brewer, Robert Glennon, Alan Ker, Gary Libecap
Transferring Water In The American West: 1987-2005, Jedidiah Brewer, Robert Glennon, Alan Ker, Gary Libecap
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Rising urban and environmental demand for water has created growing pressure to re-allocate water from traditional agricultural uses. Water markets are powerful institutions for facilitating this re-allocation, yet the evolution of water markets has been more complicated than those for other resources. In this paper, we set the context for water marketing with an overview of western water law that highlights unique aspects of water law that affect how or whether a water market can develop. Second, we present new, comprehensive data on the extent, nature, and timing of water transfers across 12 western states from 1987-2005. We describe the …
Abandoning The Pia Standard: A Comment On Gila V, Galen Lemei
Abandoning The Pia Standard: A Comment On Gila V, Galen Lemei
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Part I of this Note examines the development of Indian reserved water rights, and the practicably irrigable acreage method of quantifying those rights, as defined by the Court. Part II describes the arguments of state and private interests that oppose broad Indian water rights. Part III discusses Gila V, including the Arizona Supreme Court's rationale for abandoning the standard set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court and the standard for quantifying Indian reserved rights that the court applied in its place. Part IV analyzes the Arizona Supreme Court's justifications for abandoning the standard, and considers alternate grounds for the …
Preparing For Climatic Change: The Water, Salmon, And Forests Of The Pacific Northwest, Philip W. Mote, Edward A. Parson, Alan F. Hamlet, William S. Keeton, Dennis Lettenmaier, Nathan Mantua, Edward L. Miles, David W. Peterson, David L. Peterson, Richard Slaughter, Amy K. Snover
Preparing For Climatic Change: The Water, Salmon, And Forests Of The Pacific Northwest, Philip W. Mote, Edward A. Parson, Alan F. Hamlet, William S. Keeton, Dennis Lettenmaier, Nathan Mantua, Edward L. Miles, David W. Peterson, David L. Peterson, Richard Slaughter, Amy K. Snover
Articles
The impacts of year-to-year and decade-to-decade climatic variations on some of the Pacific Northwest’s key natural resources can be quantified to estimate sensitivity to regional climatic changes expected as part of anthropogenic global climatic change. Warmer, drier years, often associated with El Niño events and/or the warm phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, tend to be associated with below-average snowpack, streamflow, and flood risk, below-average salmon survival, below-average forest growth, and above-average risk of forest fire. During the 20th century, the region experienced a warming of 0.8 ◦C. Using output from eight climate models, we project a further warming of …
Hydraulic Empire, Joseph L. Sax
Hydraulic Empire, Joseph L. Sax
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Great Thirst: Californians and Water, 1170s-1990s by Norris Hundley, Jr.
Cause For Cautious Celebration: Hungarian Post-Communist Environmental Reform, Karen S. Libertiny
Cause For Cautious Celebration: Hungarian Post-Communist Environmental Reform, Karen S. Libertiny
Michigan Journal of International Law
In October 1989, the Hungarian Communist regime collapsed and was replaced by a democratic government. This new government was confronted with a visible and grave concern: environmental degradation. In just three years, the new Hungarian government, sometimes of its own impetus, sometimes at the prodding of environmentalists and foreign governments, has taken tremendous steps toward establishing palpable environmental legislation. More importantly, it has created an administrative and information-gathering infrastructure capable of sustaining a cohesive system of environmental protection initiatives. Although the path to further progress is littered with obstacles, this East European country has proven itself a worthy warrior in …
The West Bank Aquifer And Conventions Regarding Laws Of Belligerent Occupation, Jamal L. El-Hindi
The West Bank Aquifer And Conventions Regarding Laws Of Belligerent Occupation, Jamal L. El-Hindi
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Note will provide an introductory analysis of the conventions on belligerent occupation as they apply to the West Bank aquifer. Part I provides a brief analysis of the current situation in the region. Part II provides an overview of the relevant conventions on belligerent occupation and then focuses on how these laws apply to underground water resources in the West Bank. Finally, Part III outlines potential developments for the maintenance of complicity with the developing law of belligerent occupation, taking into account developments in international water law.
State Control Over The Reclamation Waterhole: Reality Or Mirage, Michigan Law Review
State Control Over The Reclamation Waterhole: Reality Or Mirage, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note assesses how much state law section 8 saves from preemption. Section I reviews the interplay of state and federal water law in the West. It begins with a brief description of appropriation, the system of water rights found in the Western states, outlines the Reclamation Act of 1902, and then traces the Supreme Court's evolving construction of the Act. It culminates in a discussion of California v. United States, the Court's latest gloss on section 8. Section II expands the analysis of the California decision, integrating it with traditional preemption doctrine. It shows that section 8 respects …
Sax: Water Law, Planning And Policy: Cases And Materials, Lynton K. Caldwell
Sax: Water Law, Planning And Policy: Cases And Materials, Lynton K. Caldwell
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Water Law, Planning and Policy: Cases and Materials by Joseph L. Sax
Real Property - Easements - Right To Take Water From A Pond As Absolute, Exclusive Profit In Gross, Stephen J. Martin S.Ed.
Real Property - Easements - Right To Take Water From A Pond As Absolute, Exclusive Profit In Gross, Stephen J. Martin S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
One Divine owned a small natural lake and a mill nearby. He dammed the lake, and ran a pipe from it to his mill. At times he sold water after it left the mill to defendant's assignor, who owned a hotel near the mill. In 1919 Divine sold the lake to plaintiff's assignor, reserving to himself the right to dam the lake and draw off water from it, so long as the level stayed between high and low water marks. Then Divine sold the mill lot to defendant's assignor, who closed it down, but continued to take water through the …
Waters And Water Courses - No Riparian Right In Montana, Evans Holbrook
Waters And Water Courses - No Riparian Right In Montana, Evans Holbrook
Articles
Plaintiff owned lands through which a stream flowed; defendant, by virtue of an appropriation duly made, diverted all the water in the stream and used it for irrigation purposes. Plaintiff, claiming only as a riparian owner, sued to enjoin defendant's diversion of the stream on the ground that it was an invasion of riparian rights. Held, that the common law doctrine of riparian rights does not prevail in Montana, and that plaintiff's complaint does not state a cause of action.
Waters And Water Courses - The Effect Of The Desert Land Act Of 1877, Evans Holbrook
Waters And Water Courses - The Effect Of The Desert Land Act Of 1877, Evans Holbrook
Articles
The Act of March 3, 1877, generally known as the Desert Land Act, provides for the sale of desert lands to persons who agree to irrigate and cultivate such lands. The act defines desert lands as lands which will not, without some irrigation, produce crops, and provides that the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall determine what may be considered as such lands; it provides also that the right to the use of water on such lands shall depend upon appropriation, and continues as follows: "and all surplus water over and above such actual appropriation and use, together with …
Rights In Percolating Waters, Ralph W. Aigler
Rights In Percolating Waters, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
Almost without exception the courts approve of Acton v. Blundell, 12 M. & W. 324, to the extent of its actual decision,-that where as a result of improvement or enjoyment of one's own land one conducts operations which draw off percolating waters from a neighbor's land, even to the extent of drying up a well or spring, such inconvenience is to be deemed damnum absque injuria. The doctrine of the court "that the person who owns the surface may dig therein, and apply all that is there found to his own purposes at his free will and pleasure," if intended …
Rights In Percolating Waters, Ralph W. Aigler
Rights In Percolating Waters, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
Almost without exception the courts approve of Acton v. Blundell, 12 M. & W. 324, to the extent of its actual decision,-that where as a result of improvement or enjoyment of one's own land one conducts operations which draw off percolating waters from a neighbor's land, even to the extent of drying up a well or spring, such inconvenience is to be deemed damnum absque injuria. The doctrine of the court "that the person who owns the surface may dig therein, and apply all that is there found to his own purposes at his free will and pleasure," if intended …
The Right To Divert Water To Non-Riparian Land, Ralph W. Aigler
The Right To Divert Water To Non-Riparian Land, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
Though at one time in England there may have been some doubt as to the character of a riparian owner's rights in the waters of the stream, it must be considered as definitely settled by a series of cases that the doctrine of reasonable use by all the proprietors on the stream is the rule of the common law, and that the matter of priority of use or appropriation is, under that system, immaterial, unless, of course, a question of prescriptive right is involved. Wright v. Howard, 1 Sim. & S. 190; Mason v. Hill, 3 B. & Ad. 304, …