Water Policy in the United States from a comparative perspective

Water is essential to human life. Therefore its use and distribution are di¬rectly concerned with basic rights. In addition, water is a scarce resource. This depends mostly on geography, but also major social and economic factors come into play. In particular, there is strong competition between the different cate¬gories of users and public interest connected with the different modes of ex¬ploitation of the water may be assessed variably in different historical periods. The real challenge is to ensure the best use of water resources for society, tak¬ing into account all relevant legal positions. This is where democracy can play a key role. In reality, at first glance, the link between good water management and the principles of democracy is not easy to see. Democracy may seem such a 'high' and far-reaching value that it cannot have a place in practical activities such as water management. This study aims to demonstrate the opposite, i.e. that the principle of democracy may take on primary importance in the management of water resources, because it can provide the legal means suitable for managing (and possibly solve) the issues that inevitably arise from the relationship between the various stakeholders. Rather than carrying out a thorough comparative analysis of public law re¬garding this resource, it is necessary to isolate — however arbitrarily — a geo¬graphical context and an object of analysis. As to the first aspect (the geographic scope of the analysis), it does seem particularly interesting to consider some European jurisdictions with obvious similarities, in terms of historical development, with the Italian jurisdiction, re¬ferring specifically to the French and Spanish systems, grounded in the Ro¬man-Germanic tradition. On the other hand, these considerations would not be comprehensive without some mention made of the Anglo-Saxon experience, where the focus is on the US legal systems. As regards the other aspect relating to the determination of the object un¬der examination, at least three relevant aspects may be identified. The first, pre¬dictably, concerns the possible configuration of water as a public asset, for the pursuit of purposes associated with its use by the community. The second con¬cerns the regime of water use by private individuals. The third and last aspect concerns methods of water supply. Since this issue cannot be treated exhaus¬tively here, this study sets out to mention some features as an example extrapolated from some of the legal systems examined, in order to verify the existence of any significant convergences or divergences.