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Full-Text Articles in Law
Correcting Mismatched Authorities: Erecting A New "Water Federalism", Robert Abrams
Correcting Mismatched Authorities: Erecting A New "Water Federalism", Robert Abrams
Journal Publications
Conflicts over water allocation have, become a national topic, rather than a regional one confined to the West. Increased water use and projections for further increased demand are combining with the decline of stationarity to underscore the importance of having sound water management policies and a coherent plan for water allocation at the ready and capable of implementation. Historically, and in an earlier era of water federalism, the state police power was acknowledged as the proper locus for making water law and policy.
In the twentieth century, even while laws and rhetoric respected the division of authority favoring the states, …
Water Federalism And The Army Corps Of Engineers' Role In Eastern States Water Allocation, Robert Haskell Abrams
Water Federalism And The Army Corps Of Engineers' Role In Eastern States Water Allocation, Robert Haskell Abrams
Journal Publications
It is black letter constitutional theory that the several states are the masters of their property law, and hence their water law. For that reason, states have been free to adopt regimes as widely different as reasonable use riparianism and prior appropriation, depending on local conditions and perceived needs. Superimposed on the same physical water resource network, is the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The presence of Corps' facilities in basins now experiencing short supply opens the door to state and federal water allocation conflict that calls for mediation under the principles of water federalism, a doctrine that …