A few days ago, the New York Times ran an op-ed about the pervasive problems Pakistanis face accessing drinking water. Tap water is available in many places in Pakistan, but drinking it is a health risk; according to one recent report, forty percent of all deaths in Pakistan result from infectious diseases contracted by drinking… Continue reading Jessica Vapnek on Packaged-Water Regulation
Must the federal government turn over federal public lands to the states? Several years ago, the Utah Legislature appropriated several hundred thousand dollars to study this very question. Not surprisingly, since the study was written by attorneys who hoped to litigate these same claims, the answer was “yes.” This was not exactly a new position.… Continue reading John Leshy on the Constitutionality of Public Lands
As it emerged from decades of legal apartheid, South Africa also embarked on an ambitious program of water-law reform. At its core were two ideas. The first was to treat an old legal concept—the public-trust doctrine—as a foundation for the emerging legal system. That meant treating water as a common resource, to be held by… Continue reading David Takacs on South Africa’s Treatment of Water Rights