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The article provides information on promoting groundwater reform to be able to fill in the gap between existing water institutions and the institutions needed to ensure sustainable water supplies for the future. The establishment of a certain water policy is explored. The article shows how combining numerical analysis with another technique, response surface analysis, is able to create a tractable model of policy interactions grounded on policy dilemma. A study on the feasibility of water right enforcement in Spain's Upper Guadiana Basin is given. Such study concludes that success of local negotiation relies on stakeholders' beliefs abour enforcement policy in the absence of agreement.

The article discusses the implications on the passage of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act or "Superfund" in the U.S. It mentions that one way to prevent resource loss and damage is through management and effectiveness of thousands of hazardous waste sites. The hazardous waste sites continue to compromise the underground water resources. It notes that one of three Americans live within 700 of over 1200 sites on the National Priority List (NPL). The historical background of the Superfund and an overview of the current status of the Superfund Program sites, and the future funding for the Superfund Program are presented.

In the United States, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulates most groundwater used for drinking water. The Act covers most urban areas but because it does not cover small water systems, it implicitly exempts nearly half of those living in rural America. In large measure, monitoring required by the SDWA has illustrated the prevalence of naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater in concentrated areas throughout the country. Even though many in Congress seem aware of this threat and have, indeed, supported more stringent arsenic standards, Congress, on the whole, has failed to update the SDWA to cover those water systems left unprotected by the Act. Conventional political science theory suggests that effective congressional oversight depends on Congress creating both active (e.g., hearings and commissioned studies) and passive oversight mechanisms (i.e., citizen suits and opportunities for constituent feedback). In this case, Congress had, in fact, created sufficient tools to detect a serious problem but, having identified it, nevertheless failed to respond. Why? In exploring Congress’s inaction, we find something unexpected: the structure of the SDWA has created perverse incentives not only for unregulated water systems but also for regulated systems to push to keep exempted water systems unregulated. The outcome is that those outside of the SDWA’s protections remain outside and continue to drink contaminated water by the glass full. So, while Congress created a loophole, it may have inadvertently tied a noose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on issues concerning the water code in New Mexico. It mentions about the water code adopted by the Territorial legislature in 1907, which is consisted of 73 separate sections and the last section repealed all other acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act. Meanwhile, the code had established priority in time as the key explicit means of apportioning among existing water rights. In connection, the author notes that the state have lived for more than 100 years in 2008 under the basic system created by the 1907 Code.

The article provides information about the water laws of New Mexico. According to the author, the water laws in the state provide a vivid illustration of how policies toward water have formed and reformed through constantly reflecting what the society wants. In connection, theological reasons are also discussed in the article which they are considered the center of a conversation about the practical history of water law. The author also notes the processes on how the water law in New Mexico has developed.

Spain's 1985 Water ~w gave special significance to the Registry and the Catalogue, two legal figures that allowed the co-existence of public and private groundwater ownership. Twenty years later, the situation of the Catalogue and the Registry is quite deficient. As a consequence, adequate groundwater management in Spain seems extremely difficult. This paper comments on the three main actions taken by the Government since 1985: first, the "Groundwater Registry and Catalogue Update Program" (ARYCA), a 42M€ project of the Ministry of Public Works, the results of which have not lived up to expectations; second, the Transient Disposition of the National Water Plan Law (2001) with regard to the "closure of the inscription period for private wells." The results of this action are still uncertain; and thirdly, the "Update Program for the Registry and Catalogue Books" (ALBERCA), a 155M€ initiative of the Ministry of the Environment which is yet to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies basic elements to be considered in formulating a general water law. It presents these elements using a four-part general framework: the hydrologic cycle, human uses, physical and ecological functions, and institutional arrangements. It applies this framework to the Republic of Colombia's water law, based on which recommendations for possible revisions are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses takings litigation in California. The author notes that legal decisions in takings cases in California have influenced decisions in other states. In the California Supreme Court case Regency Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, the advertising company Regency Outdoor Advertising filed suit after the city of Los Angeles, California planted palm trees on public property that blocked Regency billboards built on private property. In the case of Allegretti & Co. vs. County of Imperial, the irrigation company Allegretti filed suit after Imperial County, California set limits on the amount of groundwater the company could pump.

Examines the facts and holding of the case "BedRoc Ltd. v. United States," in which the U.S. Supreme Court has incorrectly interpreted the Pittman Underground Water Act of 1919 by applying the wrong meaning to the term "valuable minerals." Background on the case; Court's misinterpretation of the reservation clause of the Act to not encompass sand and gravel; Argument that the Supreme Court has misconstrued the Pittman Act by declining to examine the purpose of the Homestead Act.

Discusses the Nebraska Supreme Court's decision to the case "Spear T. Ranch v. Knaub," concerning the state's managed rights to ground water and surface water. Review of traditional riparianism governing surface water rights, prior appropriation governing surface water rights and correlative rights doctrine governing ground water rights; Rights to use surface water attached to all riparian parcels of land patented in the state prior to April 4, 1895; Issue of monetary damages.

Discusses the development of international water law that applies to ground water resources and provides recommendations based on the models and principles of hydrogeology. History of ground water under international law; Models of ground water resources with transboundary implications; Information on non-renewable transboundary ground water resources and international law.

Discusses the implications of Directive 2000/60 EC on future groundwater policy with the emphasis on the need of legislative and administrative measures in order to protect groundwater as a source of drinking water. Hydrogeological features; Extent of groundwater pollution; Recovery of base flows and wetlands.

Provides an economic perspective on the historical origins of restrictions on an important class of water transfers, namely, ones involving groundwater in California in the nineteenth century. Important conceptual issues related to the economic determinants of property rights definition; Relationship of these issues to common law; Doctrinal antecedents to California law in early civil law and English common law.

Reports on the activities of the Small Communities Outreach Project for Environmental Issues (SCOPe) designed to ellicit comment on the proposed groundwater rule of the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. as of October 2002. Mission of SCOPe; Discussion on the SCOPe model to increase community participation in environmental rule making; Background of the proposed groundwater rule.

The main objective of this article is to shed light on an important issue of water conservation-groundwater rights and legislation. Principles of groundwater rights are detailed and their applications to major aquifer systems, groundwater basins and wadis are discussed. Legislation and the clarification of water rights are vital for the sustainable development of groundwater. They are urgently needed in Saudi Arabia in particular and in all areas where demand exceeds supply. Legislation is one of the main pillars upon which any conservation policy is built. In this article a model is suggested for groundwater allocation in aquifers shared by more than one state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the regulation and use of injected ground water tracers to estimate aquifer flow and transport properties in the United States. Reasons for ground water tracers application; Requirements under federal regulatory laws on tracers; Application of the Underground Injection Control program.

Investigates the origin and evolution of safe-yield policies in the Kansas groundwater management districts. Attribute effects of the decline in the High Plains aquifer; Factor causing the minimum desirable streamflow standards; Revisions made to safe-yield policies.

The article discusses the curtailment of municipal water rights for in-house use in relation to the Idaho Supreme Court's ruling in the case Musser v. Higginson which affirmed the issuance of a writ of mandate against the Idaho Department of Water Resources requiring that agency's Director to act in response to a call for delivery of water. The legal recognition of a hydrologic interconnection between ground water and surface water sources within the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer is assessed.

The Jinan spring basin is located in the karst area of northern China, where springs serve as important sources of water supply. Several studies on spring protection and water supply have been carried out, and scholars have developed some laws on local groundwater flow dynamic and characteristics of aquifer structures. Unfortunately, there is a lack of detailed research on preferential recharge zones, which are the main recharge pathways of springs. Therefore, this research focuses on identifying preferential recharge zones based on the correlation between the spring level and precipitation. The results show that when precipitation is more intense or lasts longer, there is a stronger correlation between spring level and precipitation. It has been established that the precipitation at Donghongmiao station has the closest relationship with the dynamic of Baotu spring, which is found to be the most significant contribution to spring preservation. Two potential preferential recharge zones in the Jinan spring basin are detected through correlation analysis and geological exploration data. These findings support spring protection and water supply projects in karst regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides an overview of groundwater legislation enacted and policies proposed and/or in effect in European Community (EC) member states. Importance of implementing the EC Groundwater Directive, the Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Directive and other relevant laws; Approaches to site registration and classification schemes; Risk assessment procedures.

Describes a comprehensive groundwater control program established by the Upper Republican Natural Resource District (URNRD) of Nebraska. Local authority management of groundwater supply in Nebraska; History and evolution of the groundwater policy in Nebraska's URNRD; Prospects for local resource management; Situational and policy factors of groundwater rules in the URNRD.

Groundwater is an increasingly important component in the nation's total water supply. Although groundwater is one of this nation's most abundant resources, falling water tables and contamination episodes have caused localized water shortages. This has led to news media accounts describing water supply as our nation's next natural resource crisis. The problem with groundwater supply can be attributed in part to the current system of incomplete property rights. This, in combination with the common pool characteristics of underground water and other third party effects, has resulted in technical and allocative inefficiency. Groundwater hydrology, common property, contamination, and other third party effects are examined in seeking the causes of the current water crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstrates that private property rights regime is a promising alternative to central control of the social welfare of pumping groundwater. Comparison with granting of tradeable permits to groundwater stock; Use of a stochastic dynamic programming model of Madera County, California.

The article discusses the importance of creating a statewide program of local groundwater management authorities to regulate groundwater in California. It provides an overview of the development and current status of groundwater law. It highlights alternatives available for managing groundwater resources.

The landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sporhase v. Nebraska set forth for the first time a national policy governing interstate groundwater allocation. Until that time groundwater resources shared by two states were largely regulated separately by the states involved. Many states, especially those in the arid West, have chosen to impose restrictions on the exportation of their water. These restrictions have ranged from requiring legislative approval to outright ban. The Sporhase decision ruled against those discriminatory regulations. More important, it reoriented the primary mechanism of allocation from state regulation to the market. The intention was to improve allocative efficiency and to strengthen the federal union through the establishment of a national market. Historically water resources allocation in the United States has been characterized by government regulation.' In the East, a system of riparian rights, patterned after the English common law, was developed in which a landowner is entitled to use the water in a running stream or a lake bordering his or her property. This water right permits the owner to use whatever water is available for reasonable purposes.

How has groundwater use been historically governed by the binational to municipal government levels across the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin (GLB)? To what extent have they contemplated the physical–environmental requirements to maintain aquifer storage in devising policies and making decisions governing groundwater use? Although it is amongst the largest freshwater stores in the globe, cases of groundwater shortages are increasingly being reported across GLB communities, raising questions on the fitness of governance approaches to maintain groundwater storage (GWS) with growing climate and human pressures. Applying retrospective analytical methods to assess the century-old collaboration of the United States and Canada to maintain GLB water quantities, we characterize long-term trends and undertake systematic diagnosis to gain insight into causal mechanisms that have persisted over the years resulting in current GWS governance gaps. We reveal the surprising prominence of policies originally intended to safeguard surface water quantities being used to govern groundwater use and thereby maintain GWS. We also connect these, based on sustainable aquifer yield theory, to growing groundwater insecurity in the Basin's drought-prone and/or groundwater-dependent communities. Based on deep understanding of long-standing policy pathologies, findings inform transboundary GWS governance reform proposals that can be highly useful to multiple levels of government policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the water management bills driven by the decline of environmental health and passed by the legislature in California. It is stated that the bills include the authorization of local government to implement groundwater monitoring programs, mandate conservation programs and require the reporting of water diversions. It notes that the bills would affect the use and management of the water resources. It also mentions the implications of the new legislation.

The article discusses the Groundwater Management Act (GMA), a legislation that gives local government agencies the authority to disapprove a proposed waterworks development plan. It mentions that GMA is requiring water resources developers to demonstrate that sufficient water supplies will be available for a period of 100 years. It explains that certification of water supply from the Arizona Department of Water Resources is needed by the developers. The article focuses on the implementation of the legislation in Arizona, California and Colorado.

The article reports on the Ground Water Rule (GWR) which was issued on November 8, 2006 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The GWR addresses greater protection from microbial pathogens in ground water-supplied public water systems. It is emphasized that the rule also applies to any system that combines untreated ground water with surface water delivered to its customers. The GWR document comprise a comprehensive approach to protect public health from viruses in ground water of public water systems.

The article reports decision of a Minnesota trial court in the case "Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians v. Coachella Valley Water Dist.," concerning groundwater rights for Native American tribes.