Law Commons^™

Still Dirty After Twenty-Five Years: Water Quality Standard Enforcement And The Availability Of Citizen Suits, Michael P. Healy

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

When Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly known as the Clean Water Act, it established a pollution control regime that imposed a baseline level of technology-based pollution control, and was designed to ensure that water quality would not fall below certain standards. Twenty-five years after the enactment of the Clean Water Act, success may be claimed with regard to technology-based controls. Achieving water quality standard (WQS) compliance has proved much more difficult. Indeed, evaluated from a variety of perspectives, the enforcement of the water quality-based system of pollution control must be viewed as a failure.

In light …

Water Use Permits In A Riparian State: Problems And Proposals, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Although adequate supplies of water are generally available in Kentucky, the law governing its use and allocation is much less satisfactory. At present, Kentucky water law is a complex mixture of common law and statutory water rights. The purpose of this article is to evaluate these water rights and suggest a number of improvements. Part I will examine the common law rules as they relate to both surface water and ground water. Part II will focus upon Kentucky's present system of statutory water use regulation and will identify some of its more serious deficiencies. Part III will recommend some short-range …

Land Use Controls In Coastal Areas, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Prolonged exploitation of coastal resources has caused extensive ecological harm. The alarming decline in the condition of the marine environment has become a matter of serious public concern. This Article will examine some of the environmental problems of the coastal zone and the resulting institutional responses. The first part will delineate a number of problems in the nation's coastal areas. The second part will review the doctrines of property law associated with the ownership of littoral land and their relation to land-use control measures. The third part will evaluate recent coastal management legislation. The fourth part will consider constitutional restraints …

A Modern Proposal For State Regulation Of Consumptive Uses Of Water, Richard C. Ausness, Frank E. Maloney

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

As a nation, the United States is in the early stages of a developing water crisis. With an exploding population accompanied by great technological advances in industry and agriculture, America is using progressively more water each day; the increasing use threatens to exceed available supplies in the future unless available resources are properly managed.

As the demand for water grows, problems related to the equitable allocation of this important resource will likewise increase. The need that presently exists for an integrated and balanced approach to the problems of water consumption, pollution, navigation and recreation will become even more acute in …

Water Quality Control: A Modern Approach To State Regulation, Richard C. Ausness, Frank E. Maloney

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The American public of late has shown increasing concern over the quality of the environment. Water pollution has long been recognized as a major threat to a better environment. Municipal, industrial, and agricultural operations all contribute to the pollution problem. Municipalities empty millions of gallons of inadequately-treated sewage into the nation's rivers and streams. Municipal wastes are almost exclusively organic in nature. Currently municipal wastes are estimated to average about ten million tons annually while industrial pollution averages approximately fifteen million tons. Treatment in general is technologically feasible; the primary impediment is financial inability on the part of municipalities to …