DIV Making extensive use of archival and other primary sources, David Schorr demonstrates that the development of the “appropriation doctrine,” a system of private rights in water, was part of a radical attack on monopoly and corporate power in the arid West. Schorr describes how Colorado miners, irrigators, lawmakers, and judges forged a system of private property in water based on a desire to spread property and its benefits as widely as possible among independent citizens. He demonstrates that ownership was not dictated by concerns for economic efficiency, but by a regard for social justice. /div

Why do people fight about water rights? Who decides how much water can be used by a city or irrigator? Does the federal government get involved in state water issues? Why is water in Colorado so controversial? These questions, and others like them, are addressed in Colorado Water Law for Non-Lawyers. This concise and understandable treatment of the complex web of Colorado water laws is the first book of its kind. Legal issues related to water rights in Colorado first surfaced during the gold mining era in the 1800s and continue to be contentious today with the explosive population growth of the twenty-first century. Drawing on geography and history, the authors explore the flashpoints and water wars that have shaped Colorado’s present system of water allocation and management. They also address how this system, developed in the mid-1800s, is standing up to current tests—including the drought of the past decade and the competing interests for scarce water resources—and predict how it will stand up to new demands in the future. This book will appeal to at students, non-lawyers involved with water issues, and general readers interested in Colorado’s complex water rights law.

This useful desk reference, authored by Justice Gregory Hobbs Jr., explores the basics of Colorado water law, how it developed, and how it is applied today. Readers can learn more about surface water and groundwater allocation and regulation, understand concepts such as interstate compacts, or read about how a "call" for water works.

Softbound - New, softbound print book.

Colorado—seen as "the" place to ski, the ideal environment to live in, and a source of energy the country needs desperately—is best understood, write the authors of this descriptive and interpretive geography, as part of its regional setting. Water that flows from Colorado's snowfields supplies irrigation water for crops as far away as California. Tourists have a stake in Colorado's environment, as well as its economy. Colorado's vast energy and mineral resources cannot be developed without consideration of the impact on surrounding states. And many aspects of Colorado's future are dependent on influences that come from beyond the state's political boundaries. Colorado, incorporating the most recent (1980) census data and illustrated with more than 200 photographs, tables, and figures, is the only up-to-date geography of the state available. The authors look at Colorado first from the perspective of the physical setting it shares with its neighbors and then examine the interaction of people with the land. They also analyze Colorado's major industries—agriculture, tourism, mining, and manufacturing—and describe such Colorado phenomena as the way population tends to aggregate along the eastern slope of the mountains and how this population concentration has affected agriculture, water use, and industrial development. Numerous examples illustrate the practical workings of the complex interrelationships between Colorado's environment and its inhabitants. The book is designed to serve both as a text for courses in Colorado and Rocky Mountain geography, and as an authoritative source of information about the state for newcomers, as well as long-time residents.

The Law of International Watercourses examines the rules of international law governing the non-navigational uses of international watercourses. The continued growth of the world's population places increasing demands on Earth's finite supply of fresh water. Because two or more states sharemany of the world's most important drainage basins - including The Danube, The Ganges, The Indus, The Jordan, The Mekong, The Nile, The Rhine, and The Tigris-Euphrates - competition for increasingly scarce fresh water resources is likely to increase. Resulting disputes will be resolved against thebackdrop of the rules of international law governing the use of international watercourses. In addition, these rules are of importance to donor institutions and governments that provide development assistance for projects relating to shared fresh water resources. While the law of international watercourses continues to evolve due to the intensification of use of shared fresh water resources and, consequently, increasingly frequent contacts between riparian states, The basic rules are reflected in the 1997 UN Convention on the law of the non-navigationaluses of international watercourses. This book devotes a chapter to the 1997 Convention but also examines the factual and legal context in which the Convention should be understood, considers the more important rules of the Convention in some depth and discusses specific issues that could not beaddressed in a framework instrument of that kind. In particular, the book studies the major cases and controversies concerning international watercourses as a background against which to consider the basic substantive and procedural rights and obligations of states.

Recent studies of past climate and streamflow conditions have broadened understanding of long-term water availability in the Colorado River, revealing many periods when streamflow was lower than at any time in the past 100 years of recorded flows. That information, along with two important trends-a rapid increase in urban populations in the West and significant climate warming in the region-will require that water managers prepare for possible reductions in water supplies that cannot be fully averted through traditional means. Colorado River Basin Water Management assesses existing scientific information, including temperature and streamflow records, tree-ring based reconstructions, and climate model projections, and how it relates to Colorado River water supplies and demands, water management, and drought preparedness. The book concludes that successful adjustments to new conditions will entail strong and sustained cooperation among the seven Colorado River basin states and recommends conducting a comprehensive basinwide study of urban water practices that can be used to help improve planning for future droughts and water shortages.