Groundwater Laws and Regulations: A Preliminary Survey of Thirteen U.S. States (Second Edition)

This report presents results of a study investigating the groundwater laws and regulations of thirteen U.S. states. The report is actually the second edition of the study following amendments made to the first edition in response to extensive feedback and reviews solicited from practitioners, academics, and other professionals working in the field of water law from across the country. The purpose of the project is to compile and present the groundwater laws and regulations of every state in the United States that could then be used in a series of comparisons of groundwater governance principles, strategies, issues, and challenges. Professor Gabriel Eckstein at Texas A&M University School of Law and Professor Amy Hardberger at Saint Mary’s University Law School developed a matrix to ascertain chief components and characteristics of the groundwater legal regime of each state. Student researchers then used the matrix to respond to a standardized set of questions about the groundwater laws and regulations of a selection of states. In the near future, additional volumes with surveys of other U.S. states will be issued