Peck, John C.

English

University of Denver

Water Law Review Volume 20 Issue 1 Article 4 9-1-2016 Evolving Water Law and Management in the U.S. Introduction John C. Peck Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/wlr Custom Citation John C. Peck, Evolving Water Law and Management in the U.S. Introduction, 20 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 1 (2016). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Denver Sturm College of Law at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Water Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact jennifer.cox@du.edu,dig-commons@du.edu. EVOLVING WATER IAWAND MANAGFMENT IN THE U.S.JOHN C. PECK, BURKE W. GRIGGS,JAMES R. MAY, AND IRMA S. RUSSELLINTRODUCTIONJOHN C. PECKThe "vision" of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) is"to be recognized as the pre-eminent multidisciplinary association for infor-mation exchange, professional development and education about water re-sources and related issues."' Its "mission" is "to advance multidisciplinary waterresources education, management and research."' The AWRA celebrated itsfiftieth anniversary in 2014. To commemorate the anniversary and to reflecton the state of water resources management in the U.S., the AWRA dedicatedits annual conference held in Tysons Corner, Virginia, November 3-6, 2014,to the overall subject of the history of water management over the past fifty years.The four authors of this journal article participated in one of the conference's"special sessions." The title of the special session was "Fifty Years of EvolvingWater Law and Management in the U.S." The authors live in various parts ofthe country and work in various facets of water law.The special session program, like this article, was broken down into fourpresentations. First, Professor May discussed water allocation issues in the stateof Delaware, a small eastern state having a high population density and uniquewater issues due in part to the large interstate Delaware River which enters thestate from the north and runs into Delaware Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.Professor Peck discussed Kansas water management issues. A large state, partof the Great Plains, Kansas has a small population density, a largely-irrigation-based agricultural economy, and water resources supplied by rivers in the eastand the High Plains Aquifer in the west. Still larger geographically is Montanain the West, which has mountains and plains, much federal land and manyIndian reservations, a population density smaller than that of Kansas, and vari-ous types of water resources-rivers formed by mountain runoff, large federalreservoirs, and groundwater. Professor Russell, former professor and Dean ofthe University of Montana School of Law, discussed Montana water resourcesdevelopment. Finally, Professor Griggs, then Kansas Assistant Attorney Gen-eral Griggs, summarized the law of interstate water conflicts over the last fiftyyears. He has worked on the two recent interstate water cases Kansas has filed1. AM. WATER REs. ASs'N, VISION, MIssION, OiBECTlVEs, AND BRAND PROMISE (2016), http://-awra.org/about/Vision-Mission-Objectives-Braind-Promise.pdf.2. Id.12 WA ERILA WREVIEW Volume 20in the U.S. Supreme Court.The tide to this article exaggerates its contents. Obviously, a short article ina law journal cannot provide an exhaustive portrayal or analysis of U.S. watermanagement practices over the last half century nor could it do so for any ofthe three states or for interstate water issues. Instead, it provides a glimpse ofthe disparate problems and issues three representative states have faced as wellas an overview of interstate water disputes. Three parts of the article appear inthis issue. The fourth part on interstate issues will appear in a future issue. Theauthors have written independent, stand-alone pieces, using their own chosenformats.

Evolving Water Law and Management in the U.S. Introduction

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