Water Law Commons^™

How A Low-Cost Method For Cumulative Water-Sampling Shows Need For Improvement Of Legal Public-Contact Standards In The United States, Samuel C. Kessler

Grawemeyer Colloquium Papers

Across the world, it is estimated that 4.5 billion people live near water sources “impaired” for use or contact. Standards for human-interaction are established by international organizations such as the WHO, and legislative bodies from national to local levels with jurisdiction over the quality of our waterways to ensure public & environmental health. Standards are often assessed from “grab-samples” taken from a waterbody at a certain time, with a minimum number analyzed. Water-quality standards in the United States are enforced under the Clean Water Act (CWA) via the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), applying to “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). …

The Wall That Trumps Environmental Law: A Review Of The Environmental And Legal Implications Of The U.S.-Mexico Border Wall, Olivia Merritt

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Shares Of Water Stock In Utah: Personal Property Or Real Estate?, Michael P. Affleck

Utah Law Review

Utah deserts supply the state with exquisite beauty and are a definitive part of Utah’s identity. However, a consequence of this arid beauty is aridity itself. Because Utah is one of the driest states in the nation, water is an important resource. Accordingly, Utah legislators have enacted statutes that ensure that those who own water will use it beneficially and that ownership of water can be transferred easily from one owner to another. Water ownership is categorized as either ownership of a water right or a share of water stock. This Note focuses on the need for a resolution in …

We Still Have Lessons To Learn From Woburn, And Flint Is A Good Place To Start, Rose Mooney

Notre Dame Law Review

By analyzing a previous water contamination lawsuit, this Note offers advice to litigants battling their current water crises. Specifically, this Note assesses the water contamination crisis that occurred in Woburn, Massachusetts, from the mid- to late-twentieth century and offers guidance to litigants fighting for clean water in Flint, Michigan, today. There is strength in this type of comparison: “Change in legislative actions and policy- making often result from previous environmental disasters out of which the public demands a change. In other words, we arguably learn from these disasters and effect changes to prevent them from occurring again.” The Woburn litigation …

Treading Water: How Citizens, States, And The Environmental Protection Agency Can Restore Proper Criminal Enforcement Of The Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, Marley Kimelman

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

Upon the passage of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) in 1972, primary responsibility for protecting the United States' water quality and preventing water pollution shifted from the states to the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). The program at the heart of the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”), requires anyone who discharges pollutants into the waters of the United States to abide by the terms of a permit issued under the program. If a discharge occurs in violation of the permit or without a permit, and prosecutors are able to prove the responsible party acted with ordinary …

From Loon Lake To Chuckanut Creek: The Rise And Fall Of Environmental Values In Washington's Water Resources Act, Rachael Paschal Osborn

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

The year 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Water Resources Act of 1971, Washington’s program to protect instream flows in state rivers. Implementation has been controversial and, even a half century later, incomplete. Part 1 introduces the Act. Part 2 examines its legislative history, and administrative development by the Department of Ecology. The Act innovated water allocation, putting instream flows and public uses of rivers on par with out-of-stream water rights. But river protection labors under serious limitations, chief among them the subordination of instream flows to pre-existing water rights. And, although only half of Washington’s watersheds are protected …

Does The Doctrine Of Equitable Apportionment Apply To Conflicts Between States Over Groundwater Resources When Such Resources Are Derived From An Aquifer That Lies Beneath More Than One State?, Robert Abrams

Journal Publications

The Middle Claiborne Aquifer is a large sand formation that contains groundwater within its sand’s porous spaces. The Aquifer spans beneath Mississippi, Tennessee, and at least six other neighboring states. Since 1886, the City of Memphis has withdrawn water from the aquifer to supply drinking water. Memphis also has withdrawn water for irrigation and industrial purposes. Due to increased water pumping, water levels in the aquifer have dropped, lowering the piezometric head (water pressure) in different locations, including between the two states’ borders. In 2005, Mississippi filed suit against the City of Memphis and the Memphis Light, Gas and Water …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Law Professors In Support Of Defendants, Robert Abrams

Amicus Briefs

No abstract provided.

Wolastoqiyik And Mi’Kmaq Grandmothers - Land/Water Defenders Sharing And Learning Circle: Generating Knowledge For Action, Sherry Pictou, Janet Conway, Angela Day

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This report is a summary of the Grandmothers/Defenders’ stories and are interwoven with corresponding news articles, press releases, and other public documents. This is followed by an overview of some of the critical common issues and importantly, strategies for moving forward proposed by the Grandmothers/Defenders.

The Grandmother’s Report is a collection of stories told by Wolastoqiyik Grandmother/Defenders against the Sisson Mine in New Brunswick and Mi’kmaq Grandmothers against the Alton Gas project in Nova Scotia at the event, Indigenous Grandmothers Sharing and Learning Circle: Generating Knowledge for Action, held at the Tatamagouche Centre in Nova Scotia, January 26 to 27, …

A Human Face To Instream Flow: Indigenous Right To Water For Salmon And Fisheries, Paul Stanton Kibel

Publications

In the United States and throughout the world, there are many indigenous peoples whose culture and identity are closely connected to salmon and fisheries. Such salmon and fisheries are often dependent on maintaining adequate instream flows of water in rivers. Indigenous groups in the United States and in other countries have increasingly relied on indigenous human rights laws as a basis to keep water instream to maintain salmon and fisheries. This includes reliance on sources of international law such as the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the International …

Mega-Dams And Indigenous Human Rights, Kate E. Britt

Law Librarian Scholarship

Mega-Dams and Indigenous Human Rights (“Mega-Dams”) is a 2020 monograph by Itzchak Kornfeld. Kornfeld is a law professor with extensive experience working with governments and non-governmental organizations on the legal and geological aspects of water development, water sustainability, and sustainable development of land. Mega-Dams reflects this expertise, as well as the author's express opinions.

How The Safe Drinking Water Act & The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, And Liability Act Fail Emerging Contaminants: A Per- And Polyfluoralkyl Substances (Pfas) Case Study, Carly Johnson

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Sgma): Long Overdue, But Is It Living Up To Its Potential?, Bailey Mknelly

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis discusses the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), California’s first statewide groundwater regulatory legislation. The act established the formation of groundwater basins and local governing bodies called Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) which are tasked with creating Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). More specifically, this thesis examines how the structure of GSAs affects stakeholder accessibility, community engagement, and transparency. Through a collection of four interviews as well as the use of primary and secondary sources, this paper will explore the potential, and the ultimate shortcomings of SGMAs transparency, particularly in ensuring clean, safe water to historically disenfranchised communities. Using Kern and …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Regulating Wave, Tidal And Ocean Thermal Energy, Meinhard Doelle, Theodore Nsoe Adimazoya

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Ocean renewable energy sources hold the potential to contribute to the options of low-carbon energy sources and enhance the efforts by the global community to slow down climate change. In this Chapter, we provide a brief background on the current state of technology and development of wave, tidal and ocean thermal energy and consider their potential as forms of renewable energy as well as the potential negative environmental footprints of ocean renewable energy installation and development. Secondly, we examine the relevant international legal and policy framework governing ocean energy, highlighting in particular, the absence of a global legal instrument that …

A Housing Crisis: The Story Of The Syringa Mobile Home Park And The Law Clinic's Quest For Water, Jessica M. Long

Articles

No abstract provided.

International Water Law And Fresh Water Dispute Resolution: A Cosean Perspective, Tamar Meshell, Moin A. Yahya

University of Colorado Law Review

International Water Law has developed a set of rules for resolving interstate fresh water disputes that govern both the substance of these disputes and the conduct of the disputing states. "Equitable and reasonable utilization" is commonly considered as the leading substantive rule, "no significant harm" as subsidiary to it, and the "duty to cooperate" as the central procedural rule. The purpose of this Article is to analyze the merits of these substantive and procedural rules under the lens of the celebrated Coase theorem. The "normative" part of the Coase theorem observes that if transaction costs are high, then the legal …

Salmon And The Clean Water Act: An Unfinished Agenda, Michael Blumm, Michael Benjamin Smith

Faculty Articles

Salmon are perhaps the quintessential indicator species for water quality, as they require both sufficient quality and quantity to migrate and spawn. Columbia Basin salmon have been listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for over a quarter-century in large part due to inadequate water flows and poor water quality. A half-century ago, long before the listings, the modern Clean Water Act promised fishable waters. This article explains that this is a promise largely unkept due to implementing agencies’ evasion and disinterest. Recent litigation, however, offers some hope that the statute may yet provide a viable path towards protecting and …

The Public Trust Doctrine And The Climate Crisis: Panacea Or Platitude?, Joseph Regalia

Scholarly Works

Over a year of shutting down the global economy during the COVID pandemic achieved about .01 degrees of improvement in global warming. Not even a drop in the bucket. We continue to face a monumental climate crisis. And of the many ways that crisis threatens our environment, winnowing water resources is one of the scariest. One solution that many scholars have turned to is the public trust doctrine. At first blush, this doctrine sounds like a panacea for water management problems: When our water resources are threatened enough that current and future citizen’s access to it is in peril, the …

Water Is Life: Law, Systemic Racism, And Water Security In Indian Country, Heather Tanana, Julie Combs, Aila Hoss

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The 21st Century has been marked by significant advancements in technology, from travel to Mars and self-driving cars to smartphones and bitcoin. And yet, at the same time, hundreds of thousands of Native Americans live without access to safe, clean and reliable drinking water. By some estimates, 48% of households on Indian reservations do not have clean water or adequate sanitation. This lack of access has been highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic, but it is not a new issue. Native American communities have long suffered inequities stemming from colonization and perpetrated by federal policy. While the pandemic has devastated many …