An attempt is made to bring together up-to-date information on the interpretation of groundwater law doctrines and applied water management policies in the southwestern states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah, where none is able to meet present water demand from surface supplies. The resulting mining of groundwater, largely to meet irrigation needs, is creating a critical situation that each of the states covered seeks to meet in a variety of ways. aThe doctrines of correlative rights, the English common law, prior appropriation and its contemporary modifications, are discussed, state by state. While Arizona has been selected to serve as a case study to put the problem of a diminishing groundwater supply in perspective, there is also a chronological survey of the development of groundwater rights law for each of the states. A final chapter deals with the concept of a statutory revision of Arizona's code, with a modified prior appropriation doctrine recommended. Appended is a 180-item computerized annotated bibliography.

Prepared for the U.S. Water Resources Scientific Information Center. Bibliography: p. 141-220.