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<br />,d upon the commerce clause" for the purpose of implementing <br />c congressional statutes according to their terms. In light of <br />sting federal law regarding the role of the states in water alloca- <br />.atters and the specific statutory policy of section 10 I (g), EPA <br />Ie Corps are not authorized to become roving administrative <br />issions for the purpose 'of arranging or rearranging state water <br />lions. <br />(hat critics of the prior appropriation doctrine have redis- <br />:d and hope to impose on the states is none other than the ripa- <br />actrines of natural flow and reasonable use, both of which favor <br />,I uses over artificial uses and severely restrict the diminution of <br />quantity and quality,8' These critics ignore the public interest <br />'ing state water allocation systems that provide a "cohesive, <br />)Ding, reasonably well-defined system of water rights," which <br />: "understood and enforced."" Of more significance, the law of <br />lited States is that "each [state may] determine for itself to what <br />the rule of appropriation or the common-law rule in respect of <br />in rights should obtain."90 <br />his part of the article begins with an historical examination of <br />ference Congress had shown to the states' authority to allocate <br />within their borders prior to enactment of the Clean Water Act. <br /><amination leads to an analysis of the Act's specific section <br />protections for water rights 'under state law. It then applies <br />lrotections to agency and judicial decision making under section <br />'inally, it suggests a workable synthesis of federal water quality <br />ate water quantity concerns through enhanced regulation of <br />md nonpoint pollutants and the imposition of best management <br />,es. <br /> <br />Deference to State Water Allocation Systems <br /> <br />he first sentence of section 10 I (g) provides: "It is the policy of <br />~ss that the authority of each State to allocate quantities of <br /> <br />See infra part IlI.B. <br />U.S. CONST. art. I, ~ 8, d. 3. See H.R. REP, N<? 911, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. I (1972); 118 <br />EC. 37.054 (1972) (House debate on overriding veto of S. 2770). <br />See infra text accompanying notes 97-100. <br />Gould, The Public Trust Doctrine and Water Rights, '34 ROCKY MTN. MIN. L. INST. ~ 25. at <br />88). <br />California Oregon Power Co. v. Beaver Portland Cement Co.. 295 U.S. 142, 164 (1935). <br />