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Water Rights Legislation In The East: A Program For Reform, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Expanding municipal and Industrial demand, along with increasing use of supplemental irrigation have escalated consumptive water use dramatically In the Eastern United States since World War II. This escalated use already has caused water shortages in some parts of the East, and experts predict more widespread water supply problems In the future.

As the inadequacies of the common law water rights system in a water-scarce environment have become evident, many eastern states have supplemented or replaced common law rules with some form of statutory water allocation system. Typically, these statutes establish a permit system administered by a state water resources …