You are here:
LAND APPLICATION OF WASTEWATER AND STATE WATER LAW: STATE ANALYSES. VOLUME II
Citation:
Large, D. LAND APPLICATION OF WASTEWATER AND STATE WATER LAW: STATE ANALYSES. VOLUME II. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-78/175 (NTIS PB286975), 1978.
Description:
This research project was undertaken with the overall objective of analyzing state water rights law in order to determine its possible impact on systems of land application of wastewater. It was determined that most states do not have regulations specifically controlling land application of wastewater, and that an analysis would have to be undertaken of basic state water law principles which, for the most part, have been developed with entirely different uses of water in mind. There is a basic distinction between the 'riparian' states of the East, which emphasize the right of each riparian landowner along a watercourse to the use of the water, and the 'appropriation' states of the West, which emphasize that the right inures to the prior user of the water. For the most part, state water rights law was found to contain enough flexibility, through its emphasis on encouraging 'reasonable' uses of water, to enable land application systems to operate free from legal uncertainty.