Law Commons^™

Put Your Money Where Your Water Is: Building Resilience Through Rates, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Utilities are challenged with the task of meeting future water demands while generating revenue through the use of the resource. Customarily, utilities base demand projections on subsequent use and calculate price on past consumption. The traditional model of extrapolating cost, based on past consumption, does not allow the utility flexibility to protect the resource in times of crisis. In recent years, water resources have been taxed by population increases and changes in weather patterns. Utilities encourage the use of water at low fees and are unable to conserve during times when the resource is available and cheap. This ineffective rate …

Forgetting Nature: The Importance Of Including Environmental Flows In International Water Agreements, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

From the moment States created political boundaries to define their territory, they have shared water. There are 263 transboundary lake and river basins worldwide and 300 known transboundary aquifer systems. Whenever sharing is present, the opportunity for conflict is too. Climate change and increasing population are only two factors that may lead to increasing conflict if attention is not given to these situations. Thankfully, sharing water also creates an opportunity for cooperation. Throughout the world, there are increasing examples of conflict and cooperation regarding shared water resources. International water agreements can promote regional peace and security and encourage economic growth. …

Scientific, Legal, And Ethical Foundations For Texas Water Law., Gabriel Eckstein, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Water law is the field of law concerned with the ownership, control, and use of water resources, both surface and subsurface. Although most closely related to property law, recent developments in other legal fields, especially in environmental law, have heavily influenced the interpretation, application, and development of water law. As a result, water law today encompasses a broad perspective and often takes into account individual and community rights, environmental issues, commerce and economics, and other societal and legal concerns. Significantly, modern water law is also an interdisciplinary practice. In light of the continuously expanding body of knowledge of the hydrologic …

World’S Worst Game Of Telephone: Attempting To Understand The Conversation Between Texas’S Legislature And Courts On Groundwater, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Texas has flourished in recent years, and its continued growth is predicated on access to groundwater resources. Texans have a long-standing dependence on groundwater, which accounts for 60% of all water withdrawn in the state. The State’s ability to provide sufficient groundwater resources depends on effective groundwater management.

Texas groundwater management has a long history of intertwined court decisions and legislation. The common law of groundwater was established by the Texas Supreme Court in accordance with the English common law right of capture. This rule was subsequently modified by the Legislature through the Conservation Amendment to the Texas Constitution, which …

The Energy-Water Nexus In Texas, Amy Hardberger, Ashlynn Stillwell, Carey King, Michael Webber, Ian Duncan

Faculty Articles

As we confront the challenges posed by climate change, decisions on supplying energy and water to the world’s growing population should no longer be made in isolation. The challenges facing Texas and the rest of the globe require that we recognize the deep inter‐connections and trade‐offs involved in deciding how to meet power and water needs in an increasingly resource‐constrained world.

This report is the first in a series designed to explore aspects of the energy‐water nexus in Texas. It examines the water requirements for various types of electricity generating facilities, both for typical systems nationwide and here in Texas. …

From Policy To Reality: Maximizing Urban Water Conservation In Texas, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

Ensuring that Texas is sustainable in the 21st century depends in large part on smart management of the state’s water resources. A central element of that challenge is improving the efficiency of water use in the rapidly growing urban areas of the state. More efficient water use technologies, more sophisticated understanding of water pricing, and the ability to more carefully measure water use at both the individual and municipal level provide new opportunities to reach advanced levels of water use efficiency.

Water supply planning is constantly evolving and forces such as population growth and climate change are making it more …

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Water: Evaluating Water As A Human Right And The Duties And Obligations It Creates, Amy Hardberger

Faculty Articles

The Right to Water should be an independent, explicit human right. As such, the status of the right to water would be raised to the status of customary international law (jus cogens), imposing an affirmative, obligatory duty an all nations. Historically the right to water has been included in the right to life, limiting the right; however, that approach undermines the essential importance of water and causes enforcement problems that would be avoided by regarding water as an independent right.

Landmark international agreements, treatises, and the work of various international entities and other non-governmental organizations have made tremendous strides in …