Review of Water Law, Water Supply, and Surplus Water Available for Corps of Engineers Projects

Global changes facing the Corps of Engineers include increasing water demand and the potential for increases in drought conditions. A major effort took place in the early 1990s to develop drought contingency plans (DCP) at all Corps projects having controlled reservoir storage. The changes that have occurred over the intervening 30 years, especially changes in demographics driving water demand, make it imperative that the Corps update its DCP to support sustainable water management. The Global Change Sustainability (GCS) Program was tasked with updating these vital DCP to account for global and climate change. As part of this effort, WEST Consultants reviewed more than 100 DCP covering more than 250 projects from every Corps district throughout the nation. This paper details the water law issues governing distribution of the resource, such as riparian and prior appropriation, along with agreements concerning water usage among the states. Additionally, the water supply agreements at the projects are detailed along with a discussion of the surplus water available at the projects during a drought. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the variability in water law and water supply between Corps projects throughout the nation.