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Climate change's effects on water resources have been some of the first realities of ecological change in the Anthropocene, forcing climate change adaptation efforts even as the international community seeks to mitigate climate change. Water law has thus become one vehicle of climate change adaptation. Legal research into the intersections between climate change and water law in the United States must contend with the facts that: (a) climate change affects different parts of this large country differently; and (b) U.S. water law is itself a complicated subject, with each state having its own laws for surface water and groundwater and the federal government playing a significant role in interstate and international waters, in building and managing large water infrastructure, and in creating water rights for Native American tribes and other federal reservations. Within this complexity, legal research to date has tended to focus on the law governing surface water in the American West, enumerating various problems with the prior appropriation doctrine as the West grows hotter and drier and offering multiple suggestions to increase legal flexibility so that western water can be re‐allocated to reflect changing social–ecological realities. These suggestions extend to new, more comprehensive, and more adaptive water governance approaches. Far less legal scholarship has focused on eastern riparian rights, the various groundwater doctrines at play in the United States, or the increasing role of tribes in managing water resources, but these areas warrant future attention. This article is categorized under:Engineering Water > Planning WaterHuman Water > Water GovernanceScience of Water > Water and Environmental Change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article discusses the water system in South Florida which serves as a model as it highlights the city's water appropriation system and its unique environmental resources and history of development. The city's adoption to the Florida Water Resources Act (FWRA) of 1972, which builds a modified riparian reasonable-beneficial use system is discussed. The continued development of conservation and alternative water supply approaches to provide a solution for both short and long term is stated. more...

Alabama is a water rich state. Yet, agriculture is limited in both scale and productivity and the state regularly suffers from drought. Climate variability adds to this paradox even while water users, particularly farmers, have few coping mechanisms. In this paper, we argue that more significant than the water resource itself in Alabama is the governance structure of that resource. The riparian doctrine, as it stands, stymies effective management. The role of water doctrines, and resultant policy, is, therefore, crucial to enhancing decision-making opportunities for agricultural end-users in Alabama. After exploring different doctrine types as applied across the states we conclude that a move towards “regulated riparianism” consistent with the American Society of Civil Engineers Regulated Riparian Water Code (2004) would enhance opportunities for both the state and agriculturalists to cope with variable water supply conditions while maximizing environmental benefits. The paper then concludes with a review of the primary objectives of the Water Code and key places where Alabama’s Water Code would need revision to meet these objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Complete reliance on water rights markets for an efficient allocation fails to recognize the impact of currently existing social externalities and legal uncertainties. Specifically, it is possible that water may have a "community value" which may not be captured in the market price of a water right, thereby precluding an efficient market solution. Also, there are uncertainties related to the legal/instilutional process currently governing the use of western water which have the same implications for the standard notion of economic efficiency. These result primarily from inconsistencies in the application of certain legal principles, and the incomplete definition and assignment of ownership rights to the use of water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Discusses the use of free-market approach in water pollution prevention in Great Britain. Concept of external cost of water pollution; Use of common law riparian rights of landowner; Functions of Angler's Cooperative Association to prevent water pollution. more...