Water Law Commons^™

Whose Standards Control? Maine V. Mccanhy And The Federal, State, And Tribal Battle Over Water Quality Regulation, Joseph Paul Mortelliti

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This Note considers the longstanding clash between the United States government and state governments over the management of intrastate waters through the lens of Maine v. McCarthy, an ongoing federal lawsuit. McCarthy confronts whether the United States Environmental Protection Agency can require state water quality standards to specifically safeguard the health and cultural practices of Maine’s Indian tribes, particularly sustenance fishing. A panoply of legal and political factors gave rise to and shaped the course of the litigation, ranging from tribal sovereignty to agency discretion and political gamesmanship. After evaluating the litigants’ arguments and examining previous regulatory collisions between …

Regulating The Packaged Water Industry In Africa: Challenges And Recommendations, Jessica Vapnek, Ashley R. Williams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nutrient Water Quality Trading: A Market-Based Solution To Water Pollution In The Natural State*, Nathan R. Finch

Arkansas Law Review

In the decades since the passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA), our nation’s waters remain impaired by dangerous levels of nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen, which can cause serious health impacts. Excess nutrients also have a substantial environmental impact on waterbodies, which in turn diminishes the recreational value of these resources. Efforts to control these nutrient levels place a substantial economic burden on local governments in both providing clean drinking water as well as treating wastewater. The CWA’s cooperative federalism approach divides sources of nutrient pollution into two categories: (1) point sources, and (2) nonpoint sources. Point sources …

Defining Fair Notice: Logical Outgrowth Doctrine Applied To The Waters Of The United States, Henry L. Lifton

Notre Dame Law Review

In 2014, the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency sought to bring clarity to the scope of “waters of the United States” through notice-and-comment rulemaking. On June 29, 2015, the agencies published a joint final rule that immediately prompted lawsuits across the entire country.

This current legal controversy provides a convenient backdrop to propose a new method to analyze logical outgrowth. This Note will use the Proposed and Final Rule as an administrative law case study. It argues that the Final Rule is substantively within the authority Congress delegated to the Corps of Engineers and the EPA.

Mythical River: Chasing The Mirage Of New Water In The American Southwest, By Melissa Sevigny, Logan Glasenapp

Natural Resources Journal

Book Review

Going Down To The Water, John Fleck

Natural Resources Journal

Foreword

Rethinking Water Governance: Moving Beyond Water-Centric Perspectives In A Connected And Changing World, Rob C. De Loë, James J. Patterson

Natural Resources Journal

From the “water-centric” perspective that is common within the world’s large and diverse water community, water is of central importance, and improving water governance is self-evidently essential. Some water problems can be addressed using watercentric approaches such as watershed management. Unfortunately, evidence is mounting that suggests that many other water problems cannot because their causes and drivers, at scales from local to global, are partly or wholly external to those traditionally considered within the water sector. Water governance in these cases needs to better account for a range of external connections that strongly influence water-related outcomes of concern and contribute …

The Political Cultures Of Irrigation And The Proxy Battles Of Interstate Water Litigation, Burke W. Griggs

Natural Resources Journal

Groundwater depletion ignores the political boundaries of western states, the legal boundaries of western water codes, and the jurisdictional boundaries of western water federalism. In the wake of the groundwater revolution, it is becoming apparent that certain interstate lawsuits derive essentially from deeper conflicts rooted in the clash between surface-water and groundwater irrigation communities—and their respective political cultures. The interstate divide may be yielding to the hydrological divide. This article attends to that deeper relationship between irrigation agriculture and political culture across the Great Plains. Part I provides a brief history of its surface-water irrigation communities, to compose a recognizable …

The Polycentric Turn: A Case Study Of Kenya's Evolving Legal Regime For Irrigation Waters, Stefan Carpenter, Elizabeth Baldwin, Daniel H. Cole

Natural Resources Journal

Formal legal systems comprise a major part, but not the only part, of the “rules of the game” that structure social and socialecological interactions. Throughout the twentieth century, centralization and consolidation of legal authority were dominant themes among many, if not all, legal systems. That process may have been successful in some cases, but in others the presumed economies of scale from consolidation and centralization either did not materialize or were offset by other social costs, including the failure to accommodate local knowledge, expertise, and preferences. In what could become a theme of the twenty-first century, many countries, including developing …

Valuing Sacred Tribal Waters Within Prior Appropriation, Michelle Bryan

Natural Resources Journal

Throughout the world water plays a central role in the spirituality of indigenous peoples. Focusing on the American West, this article first describes how tribal water needs touch upon the sacred and then explains how both federal law and state prior appropriation doctrine fail to adequately protect these important sacred views of water. Pivoting away from the classic federal law arguments, the article then advocates for an evolution in state water law regimes to provide yet unrecognized protections for tribal sacred waters. Because international law plays an increasing role in this issue, the article also explores case studies from Ireland, …

California Water Reallocation: Where'd You Get That?, Damian Park

Natural Resources Journal

When thirsty, Californians often avoid going to the market for more water. Instead, they might borrow some from their rich neighbors, they might sue them or more commonly, they simply take more from users without much of a voice (e.g. the fish or future generations). These alternatives are often superior to using markets. Within markets, a surprising detail emerges – it is uncommon for farmers to fallow fields in order to sell water to another user. Rather, many water transfers are structured so sellers can have their cake and eat it too. While some of these transfers rightly bring about …

Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Charting The Unknown, Richard W. Hughes

Natural Resources Journal

This article examines the so-far-unsuccessful efforts to judicially define and quantify the water rights appurtenant to the core land holdings of the 19 New Mexico Pueblos, many of whose lands straddle the Rio Grande. It explains that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has squarely held that Pueblo water rights are governed by federal, not state law, and are prior to those of any non-Indian appropriator, but also that the Tenth Circuit acknowledged that it could not say how those rights should be characterized. Part I of the article examines the course of the cases that have sought to achieve …

Trial And Error: How Courts Have Shaped Prior Appropriation In New Mexico, Matthew G. Reynolds

Natural Resources Journal

This systematic review of New Mexico prior appropriation case law from 1883 to the present employs a thematic chronology in four parts spanning approximately three decades each, including the following topics. Part One covers the initial conflict between prior appropriation and riparian common law and early interpretations of the 1907 Water Act. In Part Two, courts contrast the 1907 Act with the old arid region doctrine and justify the integration of groundwater into prior appropriation. Diminishing supplies and increasing usage drive Part Three’s concentration on proceedings to change places of use and points of diversion, at times deferring issues of …

Plastic Water: The Social And Material Life Of Bottled Water, By Gay Hawkins, Emily Potter, And Kane Race, James Johnson

Natural Resources Journal

Book Review

Water Is For Fighting Over: And Other Myths About Water In The West, By John Fleck, Selena Sauer

Natural Resources Journal

Book Review

The Clark Fork Coalition V. Tubbs, Jonah P. Brown

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Before landowners may appropriate groundwater in Montana, they must first apply for a DNRC permit pursuant to the Montana Water Use Act. Landowners may qualify for an exemption from the arduous permitting process if their appropriation meets certain criteria. However, the Act provides an exception to the exemption when a “combined appropriation” from the same source is in excess of ten acre-feet per year. The Clark Fork Coalition v. Tubbs affirmed the district court’s invalidation of the DNRC rule defining “combined appropriation” to only include physically connected groundwater wells.

Implementation Strategy Report, G Jager, M Musariri

Policy

In essence the Implementation Strategy provides a plan for implementing and maintaining an optimal South African Water Resources Monitoring Network. As such the Strategy includes a number of key aspects considered for each of the surface water, groundwater and water quality monitoring programs, as summarized below:

Finalizing the optimal monitoring network design, including the location, the variables/constituents being monitored, the frequency of observations, as well as the implementation priority for each monitoring site.

Identifying opportunities for the integration of processes involved in the implementation process, such as the coordinated development or upgrading of monitoring sites based on physical location and …

The Changing Law Of The Sea: Western Hemisphere Perspectives, Daniel C. Turack

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Proportional Fault In Maritime Collisions-Charting The New Course, Gustave R. Dubus Iii

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Oecd Guiding Principles On Transfrontier Pollution, Robert E. Stein

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.