The Once and Future ASCE Model Water Allocation Law

Davis, Ray Jay; ,

The Once and Future ASCE Model Water Allocation Law

by Ray Jay Davis, Brigham Young Univ, Provo, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Water Management in the '90s: A Time for Innovation

Abstract:

The Water Resources Planning and Management Division during its two decade history has been concerned about water rights allocation and transfer law. It established a Water Laws Committee to foster that interest. With Division approval, the Water Laws Committee in 1990 set up a task committee to prepare a model state water allocation law. The task committee, which now has over a hundred participating engineers and lawyers, has written three drafts of a code. On July 23, 1993, it will hold a one-day code workshop at Park City, Utah, National Irrigation Conference of the Irrigation and Drainage Division, and by September 1994 it will have prepared a fourth and final draft of the model code. The model code task committee has been disseminating the code to legislators and other stakeholder groups during the drafting process, and after completion of the final draft will continue that effort. A successor ASCE standards committee, working within the Special Standards Division, will periodically update the code and continue the dissemination process. The model code task committee will incorporate in the code provisions from the best state water laws so all states may use it to improve the legal structures for allocation and transfer of water use rights. Through this process, water management in the '90s and beyond will be enhanced. The code process has been, is now, and will continue to be a time for innovation.

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