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The water’s edge: Municipal water stresses abundant as the levels shrink

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 17, 2008 at 6:04 am

From the Cutting Edge:

The United States has always been two separate countries when it comes to water. The east has riparian water rights like those of England, while the west has right of prior appropriation which has descended to us through Spanish laws modified for use in the arid southwest.

Riparian rights permit a variety of uses for water found on, under, or flowing next to a property. The rights can’t be sold or transferred except to an adjacent piece of land, the water may not be transferred out of the watershed, and the use must be reasonable. Unfortunately what was reasonable in a high precipitation year may not be in a dry year, and reasonableness is not precisely defined but instead depends upon the views of the others who have right to the water.

Prior appropriation rights presume that water is scarce, transportable commodity not tied to the land. When water is treated in this fashion it may be mortgaged, sold, transported out of the watershed, and historically in the western U.S., subject to violent disputes.

Read more from the Cutting Edge by clicking here.

November 17, 2008 · Filed Under National water news

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