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California attorney chosen to lead international water panel

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 24, 2008 at 6:23 am

Thank you to Jennifer for sending this press release along to me:

RIVERSIDE, Calif. _ Attorney Eric Garner, who co-wrote the definitive book on California water, was elected as chair of the International Bar Association committee that examines the pressing issues of the Earth’s declining freshwater supply. Garner, 46, will become the first American and the youngest to chair the association’s water law committee when he begins his two-year term on Jan. 1.

His tenure comes at a time when population growth, climate change and other factors are stressing water supplies globally, and as California faces the possibility of another dry year and rationing in the face of plummeting reservoir levels. “The long-term trends are going to dictate some changes in California that will force us to use water more efficiently,” Garner said.

More cities, he said, will likely follow the lead of Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Diego, which have banned wasteful water practices such as the hosing down of sidewalks and over-watering of yards.
Garner, managing partner of Best Best & Krieger, was nominated and confirmed as the next chair of the 250-member committee during the association’s annual conference, held Oct. 12-17 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“Eric is one of the leading water lawyers in the U.S. and brings his knowledge of the intricacies of dealing with the complex local, regional and international water issues to the service of the IBA water committee,” said John D. Crothers, a Paris-based attorney and the committee’s current chair.

Under Garner’s direction, the committee will work on solutions to water woes in the United States and around the globe as the world grapples with the growing scarcity of freshwater supplies. The panel will discuss suggestions to update the principles that guide the use of international rivers, 263 in all, as climate change alters the amount of snowmelt that swells them with drinkable water. The committee will also help create the legal structure necessary to increase the private sector’s role in bringing much-needed water to homes and businesses in developing countries where water rights are not well-defined.

Garner, who already has helped craft water laws in South Africa, Trinidad and Pakistan, said his experience on the international panel will give him more opportunities to learn unique ways of understanding water problems in California. “We don’t need to always re-invent the wheel,” Garner said. “Other countries are struggling with some of the same issues that we are and sometimes they have come up with solutions that we haven’t thought of.”

For instance, Garner said, issues in the Baltic Sea are similar to those in California’s largest water source, the Sacramento Bay-San Joaquin Delta. Both are ecologically vulnerable bodies that are plagued by invasive species, aging infrastructure and water quality issues.

Garner and Arthur Littleworth, the senior partner at Best Best and Krieger, are the authors of California Water II, published in 2007. It is a comprehensive guide to the state’s complex water law and policy.

November 24, 2008 · Filed Under General Water Issues, International Water Issues