Legal Challenges in Water Rights Management in the Southwestern US Deserts

Abstract

Water management in the arid deserts of the southwestern United States creates very sensitive legal issues because of the scarcity of water supply and resultant competition framed by complex legal regimes. Successive long droughts and climate change have increasingly heightened disputes among agricultural users, urban centers, and environmental stakeholders over the ever-scarce water. This article looks at the legal intricacies of water apportionment in the southwestern United States through the interaction of federal, state, and local laws governing the subject. It reviews traditional doctrines on water rights, such as the doctrine of prior appropriation, and analyzes recent judicial decisions that consider the mix between economic growth, the productivity of agriculture, and environmental preservation. This paper accordingly evidences, through analysis of pivotal legal disputes and policy initiatives, a need for a shift in the region's water management toward integrated practices that ensure sustainability in water use and economic stability. The article outlines a conceptual framework for how competing demands for water might be brought into balance through rule-of-law-driven reforms that enhance the efficiency and innovativeness of water use and cooperative agreements on sharing the supplies among the states. Determination of these legal issues will be critical in maintaining the longterm sustainability of both agriculture and urban development in the southwestern deserts, for the reason that such sustainability is consistent with national economic interests and regional stability.