7913

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7913
• Author: Freshwater Society.
• Title: Water Management in Transition, 1985.
• USFW Year: 1985.
• USFW - Doc Type: Navarre, MN.
• Copyright Material: YES

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While no interest group is
completely satisfied with
the Code, most groups are
willing to live with the
Code's restrictions rather
than risk losing the benefits
received.

A Model for Other States

As states evaluate their laws governing groundwater with a view toward better
management of this resource, they rightly turn to the experience of other states
for guidance. The Commission's experiences and work can indeed serve as a
useful model for other states attempting to grapple with severe water problems,
and Arizona's Code contains several features which have general applicability
or which could be modified to meet another state's somewhat different situation.

In the final analysis, however, each state must find its own path. Too frequently
discussion centers on doctrines for water allocation - such as prior
appropriation, reasonable use and correlative rights-rather than on the
development of laws which fit the unique factual and political circumstances
of a particular state. Arizona has developed an 'i\rizona doctrine" for managing
groundwater. Each state must develop an approach which meets its own needs,
This is one of the major reasons why the responsibility for groundwater
management lies more appropriately at the state rather than the national level.

Compromise Strengthens the Code

Once the Arizona Legislature decided to finally come to grips with the state's
groundwater problems, it took two and one-half years of study by a special
commission and six months of negotiations by representatives of the state's major
water users to produce a draft code. The compromises necessary to the creation
of the Code form a strong underpinning, ensuring the Code's longevity and
protecting it from amendments that would strip the state of much-needed
authority to manage groundwater,

While no interest group is completely satisfied with the Code, most groups are
willing to live with the Code's restrictions rather than risk losing the benefits
received. Consequently, the new Arizona Groundwater Code, an innovative and
responsible step forward in Arizona's efforts to protect its most vital natural
resource, appears to be on solid footing for years to come.

About the author: Kathleen Ferris advises the director of the Department of Water Resources
in interpreting the Arizona Water Code, represents the Department in litigation and legislative
hearings and supervises the Department's legal staff. Prior to joining the Department, she was
executive director of the Arizona Groundwater Management Study Commission, which was
established in 1977 to develop a comprehensive groundwater management code for Arizona,
She participated in the negotiation of the Arizona Groundwater ManagementAct of 1980 and
supervised the drafting of the Act.

Excerpted from "Centralized State Management of Groundwater: The Arizona Case,"
Groundwater Management: A Key Issue for the '80s (T James and S, Ballard, ed,), to be released in
1985 by MacMillan Publishing Company for The American Association for the Advancement
of Science, This material will also be published in 1985 by the University of Texas at Austin,
Center for Research in Water Resources, in the proceedings of the symposium "Groundwater
- Crisis or Opportunity," October 1984,

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