Outline of water allocation law and policy

From Water Wiki

"You cannot step twice into the same river, for fresh waters are flowing in upon you."   ~Heraclitus, 500 B.C.

"You cannot click twice into the same water wiki, for fresh data are flowing in upon you." ~An Editor of the Water Wiki, 2007

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Water categories 2 Water supply and demand 2.1 Water supply 2.2 Water demand 3 Governance of freshwater 3.1 Overview of water allocation law and policy; 3.1.1 Riparian rights 3.1.2 Regulated riparianism 3.1.3 Prior appropriation 3.1.4 Water and the constitution 3.1.5 Interstate arrangements 3.1.6 Federal laws, licenses and trade agreements 3.1.7 Water use/efficiency laws 3.1.8 Important institutions and their capacity 3.1.9 Economic and financial factors in water allocation 3.2 Overview of water quality law and policy 3.2.1 Ways in which water quality and water quantity are linked 4 Goals and criteria for governance of freshwater 4.1 Goals for water governance 4.2 Criteria for performance 4.3 Policy possibilities 4.4 Research needs 5 The Water Allocation Study

Overview

Water--as a whole and in its many parts. The Contents page (always on the left navigation bar) has a list of all the articles in this wiki.

Water categories

Water's forms and phases--the categories we use to describe it--are both ecologically-based as well as socially-constructed. The water categories page keeps track of the many ways water is divided by language: stormwater, groundwater, wetlands, river basins, watersheds, unaccounted for water, gray water, ....

Water supply and demand

Water supply

Water supply is derived from precipitation, reservoirs, rivers, groundwater, and desalination.

Water demand

Past and current water demand by:

• geographic region (ie. United States, states, and specifically North Carolina)
• NC water sectors (ie. residential , industry, etc)
• Season (showing impact of summer irrigation demand)

Future water demand:

•  Estimates of future use in NC

Governance of freshwater

Overview of water allocation law and policy;

Riparian rights

The common law roots of eastern water allocation.

Regulated riparianism

Ways in which the riparian rights doctrine has been statutorily changed to regulate water use.

• Registration and reporting
• Capacity use areas
• Drought rules
• Interbasin transfer restrictions
• Stored water act
• Water withdrawal permits
• Water planning
• Well construction requirements
• State Environmental Policy Act
• Clean Water Act section 401 certification

Prior appropriation

Basics of an important western U.S. approach to water allocation.

Water and the constitution

These U.S. and state constitutional provisions are the foundation on which all other statutes and rules that govern water are built.

Interstate arrangements

Water governance is not purely a question of individual state decisions, although in the eastern United States, interstate arrangements for water allocation are the exception, rather than the rule.

Federal laws, licenses and trade agreements

Water use/efficiency laws

Important institutions and their capacity

Economic and financial factors in water allocation

• Pricing: water rates
• Funding capital infrastructure for water
• Water markets

Overview of water quality law and policy

Ways in which water quality and water quantity are linked

Goals and criteria for governance of freshwater

Goals for water governance

Criteria for performance

Policy possibilities

Some ideas for changes in water policy to address perceived problems in the present system. And links to other states' water planning and reform efforts.

State law for protecting instream flows (also known as ecological flows) should be based on the model language found in the regulated riparianism document edited by Dellapenna.  Suggested statutory language is:

§xx.xx  Preservation of Water Flows and Levels

The State shall preserve flow regimes and groundwater levels in all water sources as necessary to protect their ecological integrity by reserving such waters from allocations and by authorizing additional protections of the waters of the State.

Research needs

The Water Allocation Study

Background and approach of the research; Resilience as a goal for water policy; study methodology as a resilience assessment; Principal investigator Richard Whisnant; Principal investigator Bill Holman; the study team.