11.4: Water Law

Federal and state governments have put laws in place to ensure the fair and equitable use of water. In the United States, the states are tasked with creating a fair and legal system for sharing water.

Water Rights

Because of the limited supply of water, especially in the western United States, states disperse a system of legal water rights defined as a claim to a portion or all of a water source, such as a spring, stream, well, or lake. Federal law mandates that states control water rights, with the special exception of federally reserved water rights, such as those associated with national parks and Native American tribes, and navigation servitude, which maintains navigable water bodies. Each state in the United States has a different way to disperse and manage water rights.

A person or entity (company, organization, etc.) must have a water right to legally extract or use surface or groundwater in their state. Water rights in some western states are dictated by the concept of prior appropriation, or “first in time, first in right,” where the person with the oldest water right gets priority water use during times when there is not enough water to fulfill every water right.

The Law of the River and the Colorado River Compact

The Colorado River and its tributaries pass through a desert region, including seven states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California), Native American reservations, and Mexico. As the western United States became more populated and while California was becoming a key agricultural producer, the states along the Colorado River realized that the river was important to sustaining life in the West.

The states recognized a water budget was necessary for the Colorado River Basin to guarantee each state's certain perceived water rights. Thus was enacted the Colorado River Compact in 1922 to ensure that each state got a fair share of the river water. The Compact granted each state a specific volume of water based on the total measured flow at the time. However, in 1922, the flow of the river was higher than its long-term average flow, consequently, more water was allocated to each state than is typically available in the river.

Over the next several decades, many other agreements and modifications would follow the Colorado River Compact, including agreements that brought about the Hoover Dam (formerly Boulder Dam) and Glen Canyon Dam, and a treaty between the American and Mexican governments. Combined, the agreements became known as “The Law of the River” by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Despite adjustments to the Colorado River Compact, many believe that over-allocation is still prevalent, as the Colorado River no longer reaches the Pacific Ocean, its original terminus (base level). Dams causing diversion and evaporation of Colorado River water have resulted in serious water budget concerns in the Colorado River basin. Predicted drought associated with global warming causes additional concerns about future over-allocation of Colorado River flow.

The Law of the River highlights the complex and prolonged nature of interstate water rights agreements, as well as the importance of water. Watch a video on the Colorado River Compact. (https://youtu.be/MZrKW-Q9X8E)

Snake Valley

The Snake Valley straddles the border of Utah and Nevada with more of the irrigable land area lying on the Utah side of the border. In 1989, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) submitted applications for water rights to pipe up to 155,000 acre-feet (191,189,707 cubic meters) of water per year (an acre-foot of water is one acre covered with water one foot deep) from Spring, Snake, Delamar, Dry Lake, and Cave valleys to southern Nevada, mostly for Las Vegas [17]. Nevada and Utah attempted a comprehensive agreement, but negotiations have yet to be settled.

Check out these additional resources:

A story map of the groundwater issues of Utah

NPR story on Snake Valley

Dean Baker Story

Water Quality and Protection

Two major federal laws that protect water quality in the United States are the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Clean Water Act, an amendment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, protects navigable waters from dumping and point-source pollution. The Safe Drinking Water Act ensures that water that is provided by public water suppliers, like cities and towns, is safe to drink [18].

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund program ensures the cleanup of hazardous contamination, and can be applied to situations of surface water and groundwater contamination. It is part of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. Under this act, state governments and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can use the superfund to pay for remediation of a contaminated site and then file a lawsuit against the polluter to recoup the costs. Or to avoid being sued, the polluter that caused the contamination may take direct action or provide funds to remediate the contamination.

References

17. (2013) Utah/Nevada Draft Snake Valley Agreement

18. EPA (2009) Water on Tap-What You Need to Know. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency