Tag: law

WATER: Rivers and Rights

Posted on by Building The World
Colorado River, Horseshoe Bend in Arizona,” by photographer Charles Wang, 2023. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Colorado River Basin states are working together to agree upon water use and rights. Source of drinking water for 40 million people (7 U.S. states, Mexico, and 30 Tribes of original Americans), the Colorado River has recently seen lower levels of water. Drought has plagued the area, with prospects for recharge by melting seasonal snowpack now questioned by warming related to climate change.

Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin states supplied by Colorado River. Mexico, and 30 Tribes are also participants in the Compact. Courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 2012. Public Domain: CC0. Included with appreciation.

In 2026, present agreements on water allocation among stakeholders will expire. Rather than wait for political change, Colorado River Compact states are drafting their own new regulations. Working with the Bureau of Reclamation, agency in charge of administering the Compact, states will submit their draft plan by March 2024.

Lawns may soon get a “thumbs down” as watering non-functional turf laws take effect to conserve water. Image: “Lawn Doctor” by Lawn Doctor, Inc. CC4.0. Included with appreciation.

Water use restrictions are expected. Water recycling will be important: many communities are developing systems for reuse. Southern Nevada Water Authority announced that water may not be used on “non-functional turf’ – that means lawns. It was the first permanent regulation on lawns and grass: the new law will take effect in January 2027.

Whanganui River of New Zealand was granted legal personhood rights. Will other rivers follow suit? Image: “Whanganui River” by photographer Felix Engelhardt, 2009. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Another option? Legal personhood for important bodies of water. In New Zealand, the Whanganui River was granted legal personhood. In India, the Ganges, of sacred importance, and the Yamuna, River of the Taj Mahal, applied for legal personhood status. In the United States, the City of Toledo, Ohio sought legal rights status for Toledo’s Lake Erie harbor. Could the Colorado River seek such rights, protecting and securing its ability to recharge and renew?

Water laws have progressed through three stages. Image: 123 numbers gif. Public Domain, CC0. Included with appreciation.

In the past century, water laws have progressed through three stages. Early laws established rights to use water. Next, with environmental awareness, laws addressed rights of water itself to health, renewal, and sustainability. Now, with climate change, laws have begun to concern access in times of drought and water scarcity.

How will climate change affect water agreements, regulations, and treaties? Image: “Judge’s Gavel” by photographer Chris Potter, 2012. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Interested in the evolution of water laws? Explore this database of global water laws.

Eckstein, Gabriel, et al., “Conferring legal personality on the world’s rivers: A brief intellectual assessment.” 2019, Water International, 44: 6-7, 804-829. DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2019.1631558

Eckstein, Gabriel. “Buried Treasure or Buried Hope?” The Status of Mexico-US Transboundary Aquifers under International Law.” International Community Law Review 13 (2011): 273-290. https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/129/

Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. “Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra.” https://www.scribd.com/document/44900268/Ley-de-Derechos-de-la-Madre-Tierra-Estado-Plurinacional-de-Bolivia

Flavelle, Christoper. “Colorado River States are Racing to Agree on Cuts Before Inauguration Day.” 6 January 2024. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/climate/colorado-river-negotiations.html

Permanent Forum of Binational Waters/Foro Permanente de Aguas Binacionales. https://www.binationalwaters.org

Ramirez, Rachel, with Drew Kann. “First-ever water cuts declared for Colorado River in historic drought.” 16 August 2021. CNN.com. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/16/us/lake-mead-colorado-river-water-shortage/index.html

Sankarasubramanian, A., Upmanu Lall, Naresh Devineni, and Susan Espinueva. “The role of monthly updated climate forecasts in improving intraseasonal water allocation.” Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Volume 48, Issue 7, 1464-1482, 2009. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/apme/48/7/2009jamc2122.1.xml

Stone, Christoper D. “Should Trees Have Standing? – Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Southern California Law Review, 45 (1972): 450-501. https://iseethics.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/stone-christopher-d-should-trees-have-standing.pdf

Water Laws Global Database. Renewing the World. https://renewingtheworld.com/files/samples/Renewing-The-World-Water-Database-Laws.pdf

Fire in a Jar

Posted on by Building The World

 

 “The most tangible of all visible mysteries – fire.” Leigh Hunt.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

From Mexico’s Mixtec ritual of Fuego Nuevo, to Africa’s creation story of Kaang whose dictum regarding fire might be heard as one of the earliest energy environmental policy statements, human use (and misuse) of the volatile is one of civilization’s most significant developments — energy.  Atomic power, originally destructive in purpose,  became harnessed by common realization that opportunity and danger must be balanced. Richard Feynman, scientist on the Manhattan Project, later reflected on the responsibility of those who play with fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4_40hAA0+feature=endscreen). In the Atomic Energy Act, control of the new energy source included guidelines for patent. As global demand for cleaner, safer, renewable energy increases, innovations for “fire in a jar” will be part of the debate. Might new forms of energy be patented? What controls and public monitoring should be considered in the use of volatile power?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License