Regulated riparianism

From Water Wiki

This is a catchall term that describes the water allocation system in most of the eastern United States. The use of the term has been greatly promoted by the work of the Water Laws Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). ASCE has published two model water codes for the United States, each representing thousands of hours of work by national experts in law, engineering and water resources policy. The "Regulated Riparian Model Water Code" attempts to bring together all this expertise in a water allocation system that covers the presently-understood issues in eastern water law. The drafting committee's final report was published in 1997 and edited by Joseph W. Dellapenna, Professor of Law at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, with the final version of the Code published in 2004. The companion volume is the "Appropriative Rights Model Water Code," designed for western states that have "prior appropriation" as their background system for water allocation.

Proponents of regulated riparianism say that riparian states that become regulated riparian states shift from taking a reactive approach to water allocation to taking a proactive approach. The riparian right approach is reactive because it freely allocates water without considering impacts on ground and surface water and then, when a water shortage arises, the government reacts by attempting to restrict use. By that time, it may be too late to save an aquifer or a river from depletion. The regulated riparian right approach, by contrast, allows states to adopt proactive laws that would prevent a water shortage from occuring in the first place. 

Some important ways in which riparian rights states become regulated riparian states include:

1. requirements for registration of water withdrawals
2. permit requirements for interbasin water transfers
3. limits on water withdrawals
4. permits for water withdrawals
5. periodic water withdrawal and usage reporting requirements
6. varying systems for water allocation in drought
7. recognition of the rights of nonriparian users to water in certain instances
8. well construction limitations
9. regulatory requirements for water intakes, treatment and distribution facilities

North Carolina became a "regulated riparian" state at least as early as 1967, with the passage of the Water Use Act of 1967, G.S. 143-215.11 through .22. This act, drafted under the leadership of Prof. Milton Heath of the UNC School of Government, provides a method of regulating water withdrawals from areas of the state where the demands on water use (either surface or groundwater) exceed supply. There is currently one such "capacity use area" in North Carolina, covering most of fifteen counties in the Central Coastal Plain. In this region, groundwater withdrawals have depleted important deep aquifers to such an extent that a cap on withdrawals became necessary. From 2008 to 2025, major users of groundwater from the affected Cretaceous aquifers will have to scale their usage back by up to 75% (for more information, go to Central Coastal Plain Capacity Use Area).

All other southeastern states enacted some form of regulation of riparian rights in the 1960s through 1990s, although Tennessee should be considered a special case given the dominant role there of the federal Tennessee Valley Authority. Georgia and South Carolina are both, in 2007 and 2008, in the middle of comprehensive study, reform and legislative efforts over their water allocation systems. Both are considering more stringent regulation, in light of the drought problems and the reality of water shortages in the southeast.