Wisconsin Ground Water:Law, Problems, Proposals

[摘要] Wisconsin water law has developed with little, if any, recognitionof the hydrologic cycle. Courts and legislatures havedealt with water depending upon physical location and thus createdlegal distinctions and classifications of water which are contraryto hydrologic fact.Today it is generally recognized that all water is part of aninterdependent and continuous cycle. Despite such knowledge,Wisconsin has developed and solidified legal classes of water andseparate doctrines for water which perpetuate obsolete factualpremises.The objective of this study is to make proposals for a groundwaterlaw which could be incorporated into a water code dealingwith all water, and thus abolish artificial legal distinctionsbased upon the location of water.The approach taken to arrive at this objective was to examinethe influence of /Wisconsin surface water doctrines on groundwaterlaw, attempt to identify legal and hydrologic problems with respectto groundwater, and study the case and statutory law ofother states to determine how such states resolve disputes involvinggroundwater.The study shows that some riparian states have taken a newlook at groundwater and its relationship to surface water.Through legislation, distinctions between the two have beenabolished.The study also revealed that recent decisions of the WisconsinSupreme Court have overturned long standing law regarding groundwaterand surface water through adoption of a reasonable use rule.The constitutionality of a statute requiring a pemit to divertsurface water was also upheld. These factors taken together withthe legislative enlightenment of other states could indicate awillingness on the part of the court to accept legislation whichtreats all water as an invisible part of the hydrologic cycle anda proper exercise of the police power.

[发布机构] University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources