Valuing Ground Water Economic Concepts and Approaches (1997) / Chapter Skim
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5: Legal Considerations, Valuation, and Ground Water Policy
5: Legal Considerations, Valuation, and Ground Water Policy
Pages 105-126
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From page 105... ...
It concludes with a section that addresses research needs based on the lack of information relating valuation information to ground water management decision. American ground water policy is a combination of state, local and federal laws dealing with ground water allocation and ground water quality protection.
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From page 106... ...
This overview broadly categorizes state ground water laws primarily as they relate to allocation, and briefly surveys state and federal ground water protection policies. Common Law States The common law doctrines of absolute ownership, reasonable use, correlative rights, and eastern correlative rights are based on state court decisions and
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From page 107... ...
The correlative rights doctrine is part of the ground water jurisprudence of California and Nebraska, although its sharing feature has been incorporated into the ground water depletion statutes of a few other western states. Eastern Correlative Rights.
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From page 108... ...
Ground Water Allocation Law Issues Ground water rights conflicts between well owners, and problems caused by surface-ground water interference are among the issues addressed by allocation law issues. Ground Water Rights In the common law states, ground water rights are based upon owning land overlying the ground water supply and are defined by court decision.
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From page 109... ...
Ground water rights are least well defined in the eastern correlative rights statutes, since judicial notions of what may constitute the "most beneficial" use of ground water may change over time. Statutory States.
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From page 110... ...
In eastern permit states and appropriation states, well interference conflicts may be reduced through permit conditions such as well-spacing restrictions and pumping restrictions. Further, in eastern permit states public water supply and domestic uses are generally protected during shortages.
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From page 111... ...
As a result, when ground water pumpers have received their safe-yield allocation through a court adjudication, they are typically required to pay a fee to the recharge entity pumping water stored underground, i.e., for pumping ground water in excess of their safe yield allocation. Where both surface water and ground water are available to ground water pumpers, the recharge entity can raise or lower ground water pumping fees to encourage surface water use during periods of ample surface supplies or to discourage surface water use during periods of surface water shortage.
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From page 112... ...
Riparian rights jurisdictions basically follow a theory similar to the reasonable use doctrine of ground water rights, although the eastern correlative rights doctrine has been applied to both surface and ground water. Where surface water rights are appropriative, priority would govern surface-ground water disputes.
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From page 113... ...
Water marketing and banking are important to valuation in that such water right transfers provide actual market values for water, which in turn provide crucial information for valuing ground water. Valuation and Ground Water Management Arizona's Ground Water Management Act of 1980 reflects a series of conscious water allocation choices to a much greater degree than most state water allocation legislation does.
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From page 114... ...
While federal law provides a legal umbrella, no single unifying federal ground water quality protection law exists. The federal Clean Water Act does not establish a basic program for ground water quality protection the way it does for surface water.
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From page 115... ...
The 1996 amendments provide funding for communities to enter into source protection programs to protect the community's drinking water quality from contamination. Where ground water is the source of a community' s water supply, SDWA funding will be made available for ground water quality protection.
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From page 116... ...
EPA currently lacks legal authority to regulate fertilizer application to protect ground water quality. Prevention of Ground Water Contamination EPA' s principal strategy for dealing with ground water pollution is to prevent its occurrence, due principally to the very high costs of ground water remediation.
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From page 117... ...
Perhaps the most controversial Superfund issue revolves around quality objectives. Ground water, for example, is generally required to be cleaned up to drinking water standards, regardless of the expected future use of the water.
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From page 118... ...
Amendments to Department of the Interior regulations on damage assessment regulations are pending. CHANGING ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES: POLICY DIMENSIONS OF GROUND WATER VALUATION A fundamental environmental policy issue is whether pollution control or other environmental regulations are health-based or technology-based.
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From page 119... ...
Regulatory Impact Assessment One controversial environmental policy issue is the extent to which federal pollution control requirements should balance protecting human health and the environment with compliance costs. Most federal environmental laws are cost insensitive, subordinating compliance costs to the protection of human health and the environment.
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From page 120... ...
Federal programs often require state and/or local governments to bear a significant portion of program implementation costs. This practice is now referred to by critics as creating an "unfunded federal mandate." An example of an unfunded mandate is the Safe Drinking Water Act.
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From page 121... ...
Most federal environmental, health, and safety programs contain program requirements that may be considered unfunded mandates. Accurate information regarding ground water values would make unfunded mandate regulatory reviews better relative to evaluation of the economic and environmental trade-offs involved in ground water protection policies.
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From page 122... ...
Because of these crucial human welfare and ecological functions performed by ground water, and because of the acknowledged difficulty of ground water remediation, protecting and maintaining the quantity and quality of the nation's ground water supplies must receive a high priority. RESEARCH NEEDS The published literature related to ground water valuation is limited.
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From page 123... ...
Environmental economics, particularly as related to ground water valuation, must be seen as an emerging profession. It must be based on an interdisciplinary approach when applied to ground water development, protection, or remediation projects.
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From page 124... ...
. Finally, because we are only recently recognizing the importance of valuing ground water, there are extensive educational and technology transfer needs for ground water professionals, environmental economists, regulators, and ground water managers.
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From page 125... ...
In addition, federal, state, and local agencies should develop valuation methods that quantify ecological services and bequest and existence values. Such research will help states manage and protect their ground water resources and could help to demonstrate improvements in decisionmaking that would occur with valuation information.
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From page 126... ...
Waters and Water Rights 3: Chapters 18-24. Charlottesville, Va.: Mitchie Company.
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