Five Things to Consider When Developing and Adapting Water Policies and Programs in the West
Author
Marion Boulicault & Adam Schempp
Date Released
January 2014
Five Things to Consider When Developing and Adapting Water Policies and Programs

This guidebook identifies common factors that influence the success of water policies or programs in the prior appropriation context, and provides examples of each factor to further clarify the issue. The guidebook is intended to help decision-makers at the state and local levels develop new policies and programs that are best tailored to navigate potential obstacles to achieving the desired outcomes.

Anchoring the Clean Water Act: Congress's Constitutional Sources of Power to Protect the Nation's Waters
Author
Environmental Law Institute
Date Released
July 2007

Recent Supreme Court rulings have called into question federal Clean Water Act coverage for certain wetlands and streams. Legislation recently introduced in the House of Representatives would amend the Act to restate and clarify Congress’s intent to regulate the waters of the United States to the fullest extent of its legislative power. The Environmental Law Institute has issued a new white paper that identifies which constitutional powers Congress can rely on to protect the Nation’s waters, and explains in straightforward language what the Supreme Court has said about these powers.

At the Confluence of the Clean Water Act and Prior Appropriation: The Challenge and Ways Forward
Author
Adam Schempp
Date Released
January 2013
At the Confluence of the Clean Water Act and Prior Appropriation: The Challenge

This report (1) details the impact that water quantity law and practice has had on water quality, and likewise water quality rules on water quantity management; (2) analyzes the legal authorities of states and the federal government over water quantity and quality, respectively, and briefly recaps the current state of takings law relevant to appropriative rights and the Clean Water Act; and (3) identifies laws, policies, government structures, and other factors that can advance relationships between, and ultimately the outcomes for, water quality and quantity management.