To Save and to Salvage; or Not? Salvage Water Regulations in Wyoming

Wyoming Law Review, Oct 2017

By Rebecca Zisch, Published on 01/01/14

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To Save and to Salvage; or Not? Salvage Water Regulations in Wyoming

To Save and to Salvage; or Not? Salvage Water Regulations in Wyoming Rebecca Zisch 0 1 2 0 University of Wyoming College of Law , USA 1 Thi s Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Wyoming Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wyoming Law Review by an authorized editor of Wyoming Scholars Repository. For more information , please contact , USA 2 Rebecca Zisch, To Save and to Salvage; or Not? Salvage Water Regulations in Wyoming, 14 Wyo. L. Rev. (2014). Available at: https://repository.uwyo.edu/wlr/vol14/iss2/10 , USA Follow this and additional works at; https; //repository; uwyo; edu/wlr - To Save and to Salvage; or Not? Salvage Water Regulations in Wyoming Rebecca Zisch * I. IoduCntrtIon ......................................................................................405 II. b a Coundgrk ........................................................................................407 A. A Quick Primer on Wyoming Water Law........................................407 B. The Priority System .......................................................................409 C. Beneficial Use and the Duty of Water..............................................409 D. Reuse and Recapture Doctrines .......................................................411 E. The No-Injury Doctrine ................................................................414 F. Change of Use Laws ......................................................................416 G. Imported Water Laws.....................................................................417 H. An Introduction to Salvage Water ...................................................418 I. Senate File 0150: Proposed Wyoming Legislation Pertaining to Salvage Water............................................................................420 III. a ysInals ................................................................................................421 A. The Priority System .......................................................................421 B. Beneficial Use and the Duty of Water..............................................423 C. Reuse and Recapture Doctrines .......................................................425 D. The No-Injury Doctrine ................................................................427 E. Change of Use Laws ......................................................................430 F. Imported Water Laws.....................................................................432 IV. ConCusIlon .........................................................................................433 I. IoduCntrtIon Water always was and always will be a scarce resource in the West.1 Western states strive to maximize the number and extent of water uses while promoting * Candidate for J.D., University of Wyoming, 2014. I would like to especially thank Professor Larry MacDonnell for imparting his copious water knowledge on so many students, myself included, who were fortunate enough to be mentored by him. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Wyoming Law Review student editors Brian Fuller, Julianne Gern, and Lucas Wallace for all their help in developing this comment. And to my family and friends who have helped me through the past three years and put up with all my semantics to help me make it to this point, thank you all so very much, I couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you. 1 See, e.g., Sandra K. Davis, The Politics of Water Scarcity in the Western States, 38 s oC . s CI. J. 527, 527 (2001). efficiency as an important conservation goal.2 In doing so, Western states have been forced to find creative solutions addressing their water scarcity.3 This comment discusses one possible way Wyoming could maximize water uses while promoting efficiency: allowing appropriators to retain the right to use water salvaged under their original appropriation. State water scarcity solutions take two primary forms: technological advances and regulations.4 Technological advances include updating and improving irrigation water delivery systems, improving headgate control, improving pipeline and ditch technology and materials, developing and improving water treatment and wastewater treatment capabilities, and improving water desalinization technology.5 Innovative regulatory solutions include recapture and reuse, effluent, wastewater, seepage use, return flow, and preferred use regulations.6 Allowing appropriators to retain the right to use water salvaged under their original appropriation would encourage adaptation to new technological advances, thereby promoting more efficient use of water. Due to water’s evolving nature and the need for this scarce resource, it is impossible to create a system of laws covering every current and future nuance.7 Water laws are infused with flexibility so they can adapt to technological and scientific developments allowing more efficient water use, such as adding new beneficial us (...truncated)


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Rebecca Zisch. To Save and to Salvage; or Not? Salvage Water Regulations in Wyoming, Wyoming Law Review, 2018, Volume 14, Issue 2,