Dividing the Waters:The Resolution of Interstate Water Conflicts in the United States

With the growth of the global population, the increasing consumption of water, and the ongoing deterioration in water quality, water has achieved a strategic role in international politics. The inevitability of interstate water conflicts makes the need for a legal framework to resolve water allocation disputes an increasingly compelling one.

<p class=copymedium><B>Dividing the Waters</b> analyses the three mechanisms developed in the United States for this purpose -- litigation in the Supreme Court, legislation enacted by Congress, and compacts negotiated by states between themselves -- and analyses the interrelationship of these mechanisms.

<p class=copymedium>The author discusses:

<p class=copymedium><li class=copymedium> the Supreme Court's balancing of competing equities in order to reach its water apportionment decisions
<li class=copymedium>the circumstances in which Congress has intervened to resolve such conflicts
<li class=copymedium>the strengths and weaknesses of compacts negotiated by parties themselves

<p class=copymedium>The volume collects for the first time all the equitable apportionment decisions, legislative solutions, and interstate compacts in the United States to date.

<p class=copymedium>By affording an understanding of the different means by which interstate water conflicts are resolved in the United States, this unique work aims to provide examples and guidelines by which international water conflicts might be resolved. It will be of particular value for those formulating policy in the international arena.