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Show Chapter 2. STATE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR WATER ADMINISTRATION AND CONTROL Administrative controls over water use have evolved, and are still evolving, as part of the development and refinement of the basic water right regimes of the indi.vid.ual States. As water use increased, so did the need for State institutions to provide centralized control over water resources in order to facilitate proper distribution to those entitled to water use, to regulate water quality, and to protect en- vironmental and social values of water. Administration of water rights is more common in the Western United States, where the appropriation doctrine has been adopted and implemented. While many of the Eastern States have tradition- ally been without any statutory controls or State administration in the water rights field, more and more of them are adopting statu- tory procedures to implement some measure of State control over water use, and all of them have enacted water pollution control legislation. In order to place in proper perspective the administrative struc- tures which exist in the West and those that are emerging in the East, it is helpful to classify the States as appropriation or riparian. It must be admitted that such a grouping is an oversimplification and often misleading, because a number of the Western States recognized riparian rights before adopting the appropriation doc- trine, and some of them retain a mixture of riparian and appro- priation concepts; and many of the Eastern States have adopted permit systems. Nevertheless, the pattern of State administrative control over water use developed along the lines of the appropriation versus riparian dichotomy, and it can best be explained in that context. This is not to suggest that there is complete uniformity among either the appropriation or riparian jurisdictions. No two States have identical systems. But it will be seen that there are many broad similarities in the procedures and institutional structures of the appropriation States, and some-but fewer-similarities among the riparian States. 2.1 Administration of Water Rights a. The Western Experience: Appropriation Systems (1) NEED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS The early settlers in the West implemented water use practices which eventually resulted in judicial and statutory adoption of the appropriation system. It was readily apparent to those early settlers 11 |
