Water Law Commons^™

Limitations Of Sovereign Immunity Under The Clean Water Act: Empowering States To Confront Federal Polluters, Corinne Beckwith Yates

Michigan Law Review

This Note considers whether civil penalties that states impose on federal agencies for violations of NPDES permits arise under federal law and thus are covered by the Clean Water Act's waiver of sovereign immunity - an issue the Supreme Court is scheduled to address during the 1991 term. Part I outlines the history of the Clean Water Act, discussing Supreme Court decisions and statutory amendments that affect the sovereign immunity provision. Part II explains the mechanics of the NPDES state permit process and examines, through analysis of statutory provisions, the degree of control retained by the EPA over individual states …

The West Bank Aquifer And Conventions Regarding Laws Of Belligerent Occupation, Jamal L. El-Hindi

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will provide an introductory analysis of the conventions on belligerent occupation as they apply to the West Bank aquifer. Part I provides a brief analysis of the current situation in the region. Part II provides an overview of the relevant conventions on belligerent occupation and then focuses on how these laws apply to underground water resources in the West Bank. Finally, Part III outlines potential developments for the maintenance of complicity with the developing law of belligerent occupation, taking into account developments in international water law.

Toward A Rational Scheme Of Interstate Water Compact Adjudication, Joseph W. Girardot

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that the current method of resolving interstate water compact disputes is seriously flawed and that the current practice of invoking the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction to resolve these cases should be altered. This Note contends that the compact itself should contain structural dispute resolution procedures insisted upon by Congress before any grant of approval is given to the agreement. Part I of this Note examines the history of the compact clause of the Constitution and its application in interstate relations. Part II explores how a poorly drafted, yet fairly representative, water allocation compact led two states to …

The Dilution Of The Clean Water Act, Mark C. Van Putten, Bradley D. Jackson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the zero discharge goal of the Clean Water Act is more than naive rhetoric. To the contrary, it is the Act's raison d'être, and it is woven into the fabric of the Act's operative provisions. So understood, the zero discharge goal can and should provide continuing guidance for EPA's implementation of the Act.

Why I Teach Water Law, Joseph L. Sax

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

I began my first law school job in 1962 and water law is the only subject I have taught every year since then. Though I am enthusiastic about all the courses I teach, I confess that water law remains my favorite. I have often asked myself why, because few subjects are considered more peripheral to the central mission of the law schools. In the East and Midwest the course is rarely taught, and in the West-where it has long been a staple- it is pretty much treated as a "nuts-and-bolts" offering for students who will practice in appropriation doctrine states. …

State Control Over The Reclamation Waterhole: Reality Or Mirage, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note assesses how much state law section 8 saves from preemption. Section I reviews the interplay of state and federal water law in the West. It begins with a brief description of appropriation, the system of water rights found in the Western states, outlines the Reclamation Act of 1902, and then traces the Supreme Court's evolving construction of the Act. It culminates in a discussion of California v. United States, the Court's latest gloss on section 8. Section II expands the analysis of the California decision, integrating it with traditional preemption doctrine. It shows that section 8 respects …

Michigan Water Resources Commission Act Amendments: A Response To The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments Of 1972, Jeffrey K. Haynes

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article appraises the strengths and weaknesses of the WRC Act and its recent amendments. After a description of the federal impetus behind the new amendments, the Michigan statutory framework is evaluated, including comparison of the WRC Act with a model state act designed to meet FWPCA requirements. Finally, the past implementation of the Act is discussed, with suggestions for future improvement.

The Evolution Of The Enforcement Provisions Of The Federal Water Pollution Control Act: A Study Of The Difficulty In Developing Effective Legislation, Frank J. Barry

Michigan Law Review

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act,1 which was originally enacted in 1948 and which has been amended five times from 1956 to 1970, has been the primary federal response to the problem of water pollution. The development of that Act in the past twenty-two years has been a story of delayed and inadequate response to the increasing problems of water pollution. The development of the Act's enforcement provisions is particularly representative of those problems. It is the purpose of this Article to examine that development, to point out the shortcomings in the Act, and to analyze the effort that has …

Legal Aspects Of A Federal Water Quality Surveillance System, Jon T. Brown, Wallace L. Duncan

Michigan Law Review

Collection of water quality data is also important for the purpose of determining the present and future needs for water resources and for the purpose of determining the proper allocation of limited financial resources among those needs. In addition, such data are necessary in order to conduct research studies and in order to determine water quality trends for the purposes of long-range planning.

Perhaps the best way to collect such data would be to establish a national surveillance system designed to monitor the quality of the nation's water resources. Such a national system is currently under consideration by the Federal …

Effluent Charges: Water Polution Control, Giovanna M. Longo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Various schemes to abate pollution have been proposed as the answer to the problem: expansion of existing treatment facilities; imposition of heavy penalties on individual polluters; granting tax incentives to reduce pollution; an absolute prohibition on dumping of certain or all pollutants; and the imposition of effluent charges. The particular remedy that is pursued should be selected on the basis of its ability to eliminate the root causes of pollution. Therefore, before an effective solution may be formulated, it is necessary to consider the reasons for the existence of the water pollution problem.

Water Pollution Control In Vermont: A System Of Effluent Charges, Hobart Birmingham

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In the final hours of a three month session, Vermont's legislature adopted a water pollution control law which imposes fees on polluters. Control of water pollution has been a popular issue in Vermont-its first comprehensive laws on the subject were passed in 1949 -and this new legislation is designed to be a major step toward upgrading much of that state's water resources. Increasing industrial and municipal water use has resulted in such widespread pollution that the traditional private law of riparian rights provides an inadequate remedy to the problem of unclean water. Consequently, state intervention has become essential to the …

Sax: Water Law, Planning And Policy: Cases And Materials, Lynton K. Caldwell

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Water Law, Planning and Policy: Cases and Materials by Joseph L. Sax

The Trend In Water Law Development, Jerome Maslowski

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The basis of public and private rights in the waters of the State of Michigan is grounded principally in the common law. There has been a scarcity of statutory law on the subject and it is only within the last ten years that any statutes have been enacted which seek to delineate public and private rights.

Selling Reclamation Water Rights: A Case Study In Federal Subsidy Policy, Joseph L. Sax

Michigan Law Review

This situation raises some interesting questions about federal reclamation policy and about subsidy policy in general. Why should a program designed to give a needed service at reasonable rates evolve into one where the original recipients, at the end of their time of need, are also rewarded by the gift of a large capital asset? Moreover, why should that reward be given at the expense of their successors on the project, who, one would think, are equally the concern of the reclamation program? These are the questions ·with which this article will be concerned.

Acquisition And Protection Of Water Supplies By Municipalities, Wilbert L. Ziegler

Michigan Law Review

Among the prime functions of a municipal government is the furnishing of a potable supply of water for its inhabitants. In view of the increasing demand for water and the shortage of available supply, a number of problems have been or will be encountered by municipalities in fulfilling that function, apart from the problem of financing.

International Law - Treaties - Inclusion Of Purely Domestic Matters In Reservations, Peter H. Hay S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In consenting to the ratification of the treaty between the United States and Canada concerning uses of the waters of the Niagara River, the Senate attached a reservation which stated that "no project for redevelopment of the United States' share of such waters shall be undertaken until it be specifically authorized by Act of Congress." On the basis of this reservation, the Federal Power Commission denied the application of the Power Authority of the State of New York for a license under the Federal Power Act covering the new flow of water made available under the treaty. On appeal to …

Constitutional Law - Eminent Domain - Condemnation Of Riparian Lands Under The Commerce Power, George F. Lynch S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The power of the United States to regulate commerce comprehends a right to control navigation and the means of navigation. To the extent necessary for the enjoyment of this power the government may condemn riparian property. The federal power of eminent domain is limited by the mandate of the Fifth Amendment which requires just compensation for private property taken for a public use. Usually, the standard of just compensation is the market value of the property, taking into consideration the most profitable uses for which the property is suited and likely to be used at the time of the taking, …

Real Property - Water Rights - Liability For Discharge Of Surface Water, Robert E. Hammell

Michigan Law Review

In 1950 the corporate defendants purchased a forty acre tract of farm land lying north of plaintiffs' golf course and restaurant. Drainage from this tract had always flowed in a natural course southerly through plaintiffs' land. The defendant corporations constructed a subdivision of 169 homes on the tract. This change aggravated the discharge of surface water onto the land of the plaintiffs, increasing the run-off some 350 percent and, in times of heavy rains, producing flood conditions. Plaintiffs were awarded damages and an injunction by the trial court. On appeal, held, reversed. In respect to 30 acres of defendants' …

Real Property - Easements - Right To Take Water From A Pond As Absolute, Exclusive Profit In Gross, Stephen J. Martin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One Divine owned a small natural lake and a mill nearby. He dammed the lake, and ran a pipe from it to his mill. At times he sold water after it left the mill to defendant's assignor, who owned a hotel near the mill. In 1919 Divine sold the lake to plaintiff's assignor, reserving to himself the right to dam the lake and draw off water from it, so long as the level stayed between high and low water marks. Then Divine sold the mill lot to defendant's assignor, who closed it down, but continued to take water through the …

Waters And Watercourses - Diversion - Reciprocal Easements Implied In Grant, Anthony L. Dividio

Michigan Law Review

The village of Canastota, New York, by deed acquired title to land in which originated a stream, with the right "to take, use and divert all said springs, streams and waters . . . or so much thereof as shall be necessary for the use of Canastota Water Works." Prior to this, the village had acquired from the lower riparian owners on the stream "all their title and interest, in and to the waters from the springs . . . the same to be forever, or so long as second party may desire, diverted . . . . " In …

Waters And Watercourses - Navigable Waters - Dried-Up Lake - Reliction, Daniel Hodgman

Michigan Law Review

A meandered lake, during periods of normal rainfall covering 3000 acres, due to years of drought completely dried up. Plaintiff, the owner of land abutting on the lake, sued the defendant, a stranger, who entered on the dry bed and cut hay, plaintiff claiming ownership of that part of the dry bed where the hay was cut as relicted land. Held, that the lake which was deemed navigable before it dried up was still a navigable lake although no water was in it; that as a navigable lake the ownership of the bed was in the state in trust …

Waters And Watercourses - Extent Of Riparian Land -Compensation On Condemnation, G. M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

In a recent case compensation was sought for the taking of riparian land for public use. The Supreme Court of Nebraska held that the award should be limited to damages to those sections of land {by the government plat) bordering on the stream. A decision note in this REVIEW criticized that ruling. It was there said that proximity to riparian land might add value even to non-riparian land. Later a rehearing of the case was granted and a new opinion filed. Held, "damages . . . are not limited to governmental sections a part of which is included in …

Waters And Watercourses - Extent Of Riparian Land - Compensation On Condemnation, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff owned a ranch comprising over 45,000 acres and fronting for six miles on the North Platte river. One and a half miles of the river frontage were taken by eminent domain proceedings for a dam and reservoir. Plaintiff claimed the value of his whole ranch was reduced by the loss of water rights, by the destruction of sheltering trees and brush, by the creation of a potential hazard to cattle, and by the threat of floods from breaking dam or dikes. He recovered damages on that basis. Reversing the judgment, the court held, riparian rights attached only to …

Municipal Corporations - Liability To Riparian Owners For Pollution Of Stream

Michigan Law Review

A stream into which the plaintiff in error dumped its sewage flowed through the lands of defendant in error. Odors from the stream, deposits of foreign substances on the banks, and the pollution of the waters about the farm of the defendant in error constituted a nuisance. Held, the city is liable to one suffering from the nuisance, irrespective of whether it is exercising a governmental function in the installation of the sewer system. Oklahoma City v. Tyetenicz, 175 Okla. 228, 52 P. (2d) 849 (1935).

Waters And Watercourses - Riparian Rights In Streams Flowing Through Several States

Michigan Law Review

A special master appointed by the Court after the filing of a bill by the state of Washington praying an injunction against the state of Oregon found that inhabitants of Oregon had been diverting water from the Walla Walla River, a non-navigable stream, by means of a dam for over fifty years for use in irrigating their lands which would otherwise be arid and had been for a long time pumping some nine thousand acre feet of water per annum from wells bored on their lands. The state of Washington claimed this diversion materially injured an irrigation project known as …

Constitutional Law-National Power Over Navigable Streams - Property Clause - Corporations - Stockholders' Suit

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in the TVA case raises issues of extreme importance not only in regard to the interpretation of the property clause of the federal Constitution, but also in regard to the requisites for a suit by minority stockholders of a corporation questioning the actions of the corporate management.

Constitutional Law-Conservation Of Waters-Validity Of Statute Limiting Riparian Rights

Michigan Law Review

By the common law a riparian owner on a non-navigable stream has a vested right in the continuous natural flow of the stream on or bordering his land. An Oregon statute undertakes to cut down this right; it provides that a riparian owner's vested right to the continuous flow of the stream is limited to such flow as is necessary to preserve to him the beneficial uses to which he is already putting the water. Inasmuch as the right to the full continuous flow as against non-riparian appropriators is really a right to insist upon the availability of the stream …

Waters And Watercourses - Diversion - Prescriptive Rights Of Servient Riparian Owner

Michigan Law Review

When new waters, formed by seepage and waste from an upper irrigation ditch, began to flow as a stream, they were intercepted by a canal of the defendant irrigation company. At the point of interception a needle gate and spillway were constructed. This gate was kept closed, however, and the waters were diverted along the canal for more than the prescriptive period. The plaintiff sought an injunction restraining the defendant from opening the gate, allowing the intercepted waters to pass through into the plaintiff's drainage district. The theories of the plaintiff were: (a) the defendant's irrigation canal had become the …

Easements - Extinguishment By Adverse Possession Of Servient Owner - Character Of Acts Necessary

Michigan Law Review

In I 902, Y, the owner of riparian land, granted to W, by deed then recorded, the flowage rights over such land. Some years later by general warranty deed containing no reference to the easement, the servient land was conveyed to L, from whom by similar successive conveyances it came to the plaintiff. In the interval the flowage rights had passed to the defendant, and in 1931 the latter erected a dam across the river and flooded the plaintiff's land. Thereupon the plaintiff brought this action for damages. The trial court held that, though all the owners …

Waters And Watercourses - Percolating Waters - Pollution

Michigan Law Review

Defendant operated an oil refinery and deposited waste therefrom on his land. The percolating waters under his land were a part of the supply for the plaintiff's well on adjoining land. These waters were contaminated and rendered plaintiff's well water unfit for human or livestock consumption. Held, that in the absence of negligence this was not a nuisance, but was damnum absque injuria. Rose v. Socony-Vacuum Corp., (R. I. 1934) 173 Atl. 627.