Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates water
quality.
The Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Power
Authority regulate hydroelectric power.
The Fish and Wildlife Service oversees water issues related to
endangered species and ecology.
This list includes federal government agencies only, says
Hightower, and doesn't include the state, regional, and local entities
that manage water in their specifi c areas. The lack of coordinated
efforts among all these agencies defi nitely creates problems and
hampers coordination, he adds.
The pot with the greatest number of hands in it just might be
in the Colorado River Basin. In addition to federal agencies—Lake
Mead is a project of the Bureau of Reclamation—the basin covers
the seven states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New
Mexico, and Wyoming) that signed the Colorado River Compact of
1922 (http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g1000/pdfi les/crcompct.pdf).
That compact “provides for the equitable division and apportion-
ment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System.” Known
as the “Law of the River,” the agreement also involves Mexico and
a host of cities, water districts, and agriculture entities on both sides
of the border.
LAWS: PROBLEM OR SOLUTION?
Many water experts agree that in some instances, laws related
to water may actually exacerbate issues and problems in the
United States.
Existing water laws, especially regarding prior appropriation
in the West, have made addressing many environmental issues
very diffi cult, says Tarlock. That's because resolving certain envi-
ronmental concerns requires that additional water remain in
streams. But, Tarlock adds, “because the water is already spoken
for—allocated based on water rights—that would potentially
mean taking someone's property and saying that they can't use
the water they own the rights to because it must remain in the
stream.”
