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Washington Law Review

Water Law

2011

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Mccarran Amendment And Groundwater: Why Washington State Should Require Inclusion Of Groundwater In General Stream Adjudications Involving Federal Reserved Water Rights, Aubri Goldsby Feb 2011

The Mccarran Amendment And Groundwater: Why Washington State Should Require Inclusion Of Groundwater In General Stream Adjudications Involving Federal Reserved Water Rights, Aubri Goldsby

Washington Law Review

All water is connected through the hydrologic cycle. When a farmer pumps water from an underground aquifer to irrigate crops, that act may affect a family relying on a nearby surface water stream for its water supply. Despite the scientific link between surface and groundwater, the law often treats the two separately. The legal choice to ignore the interaction of surface and groundwater is particularly notable in “general stream adjudications.” States file these large-scale lawsuits against users in a particular stream or waterbody to determine, in a single lawsuit, all the rights existing in that water source. In 1952, Congress …


The Mccarran Amendment And Groundwater: Why Washington State Should Require Inclusion Of Groundwater In General Stream Adjudications Involving Federal Reserved Water Rights, Aubri Goldsby Feb 2011

The Mccarran Amendment And Groundwater: Why Washington State Should Require Inclusion Of Groundwater In General Stream Adjudications Involving Federal Reserved Water Rights, Aubri Goldsby

Washington Law Review

All water is connected through the hydrologic cycle. When a farmer pumps water from an underground aquifer to irrigate crops, that act may affect a family relying on a nearby surface water stream for its water supply. Despite the scientific link between surface and groundwater, the law often treats the two separately. The legal choice to ignore the interaction of surface and groundwater is particularly notable in “general stream adjudications.” States file these large-scale lawsuits against users in a particular stream or waterbody to determine, in a single lawsuit, all the rights existing in that water source. In 1952, Congress …