Law Commons^™

A Proposed Revision Of Kentucky's Water Rights Legislation, Richard Ausness

KWRRI Research Reports

Kentucky's present system of water law consists of a statutory water withdrawal permit system superimposed upon a body of common-law water rights doctrine. The rights of water users are often uncertain under this system, particularly in periods of water shortage. The proposed revision of Kentucky's existing water rights legislation, would greatly reduce the significance of common-law water rights and would remedy some of the weaknesses in the present statute.

Part 1 of the proposed statute establishes an administrative structure; Part 2 deals with water withdrawal permits; Part 3 retains the present statute's provisions on the regulation of dams and impoundments, …

Legal Institutions For The Allocation Of Water And Their Impact On Coal Conversion Operations In Kentucky, Richard C. Ausness, Gary W. Callahan, Steven W. Dills, Bill H. Flynn, John S. Gillig

KWRRI Research Reports

The conversion of coal into other types of fuel through gasification and liquefaction has been proposed as a means of coping with America's increasing energy needs. Coal conversion plants require large quantities of water for cooling purposes and for use as a raw material.

There are three types of water allocation presently used in the United States, riparianism, prior appropriation, and administrative permit systems. The common law riparian system is undesirable because under it water rights are insecure and subject to locational use restrictions. Prior appropriation is better, but the permanent water right created under this system results in excessive …

The Law Of Water Allocation In Kentucky, Richard C. Ausness, Bill H. Flynn

KWRRI Research Reports

This study discusses navigability concepts, consumptive rights to surface and ground waters, the disposal of diffused surface waters and the administration of Kentucky's statutory water allocation system.

Federal regulatory powers are based on navigability as is state ownership of submerged lands. Kentucky uses the ebb-and-flow test of navigability to determine title to submerged lands but uses a navigability-in-fact test to determine the scope of state regulatory authority. Consumptive uses of water in Kentucky are governed by the riparian landowner to use as much water as he needs as long as his use does not interfere with the legitimate uses of …

Powers Of The State Of Kentucky In Implementing An Effluent Tax As A Part Of An Interstate Ohio River Basin Water Pollution Control Program, Anita L. Morse, Edward Zeigler

KWRRI Research Reports

This report is intended to set forth some of the problems and solutions involved in financing and regulating water quality control. The purpose is to record some of the major problems confronting those who legislate water quality, those who espouse technological answers, and those who see the problem in terms of economic solutions. The limits placed by political and institutional constraints on solutions to these problems are frequently not understandable.

Within this report are contained separate investigations: a study of federal-interstate relations and the interstate compact; a study of Kentucky's common law approach to water rights; a study of financing …

Sociocultural Impact Of Reservoirs On Local Government Institutions, Philip Drucker, Jerry Eugene Clark, Lesker Dianne Smith

KWRRI Research Reports

This study of the probable sociocultural impact of a proposed reservoir in central Kentucky on the institutions of local governments of a community adjacent to the reservoir utilizes anthropological concepts of social values and cultural and social change as well as anthropological research techniques. Data on observed impact on the same institutions in communities adjacent to two recently completed Kentucky reservoirs permit inferences as to probable directions and extent of reservoir-related change. Specific aspects of impact considered include: effects of reduction of the county tax base due to Federal acquisition of lands, including necessity for increased severity of taxes and …

The Effect Of A Large Reservoir On Local Government Revenue And Expenditure, Clyde T. Bates

KWRRI Research Reports

Development of a large multi-purpose reservoir within the area of their jurisdiction may affect property ta.x revenue and expenditure of county governments and school districts. Privately owned land sold to a federally sponsored reservoir is not subject to property taxes because of the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. Local officials often assume that this loss of assessment will reduce their tax revenue and thereby their fiscal ability to provide an acceptable level of government services. They may also expect the influx of construction workers or the disruption of existing facilities to increase the cost of providing these services. The study approaches …