Mechanism for Fair Allocation of Surface Water under the Riparian Doctrine
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 140, Issue 5
Abstract
The common-law Riparian Doctrine, the legal basis for water allocation in the eastern United States, restricts qualified users along a shared waterway to reasonable withdrawals. Recent water shortages and droughts have highlighted the need for more specific withdrawal restrictions, and laws have been passed. What is still missing, however, is a water allocation mechanism that is consistent with the Riparian Doctrine and one that can accommodate downstream demands in quantifying the withdrawal limits and reservoir release rules. The present study proposes one such mechanism, called proportionally fair (ProFair) allocation, which fulfills this need. It is realized by a so-called bottleneck algorithm (BA), which allots water proportionally in a large stream network through a series of successive steps. It is discovered that the ProFair allocation can be simulated by a log-linear programming (LLP) model. The equivalence of the LLP model and the BA is proved. The Upper Neuse River watershed in North Carolina serves as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ProFair mechanism.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the University of Illinois and the Abbott Laboratory Fellowship for funding this research. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Professors Nicholas Brozovic, Gregory Characklis, Ximing Cai, and Praveen Kumar for their valuable and constructive comments on the research.
References
Ausness, R. C. (1983). “Water rights legislation in the east: A program for reform.” William Mary Law Rev., 24(4), 547–590.
Christy, D. R., Myszewski, M., and Kundell, J. E. (2005). “A comparison of surface water laws and regulations from southeastern states.” Special Rep., Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Clemons, J. (2004). “Interstate water disputes: A road map for states.” Southeastern Environ. Law J., 12(2), 115–142.
Dellapenna, J. W. (1998). “Issues arising under riparian rights: Replacing common-law riparian rights with regulated riparianism.” Water rights of the eastern United States, K. R. Wright, ed., American Water Works Association, Denver.
Dellapenna, J. W. (2004). “Adapting riparian water rights to the twenty-first century.” West Virginia Law Rev., 106(3), 539–591.
Dziegielewski, B., Sharma, S. C., Bik, T. J., Margono, H., and Yang, X. (2002). “Analysis of water use trends in the United States: 1950-1995.” Rep. on USGS National Competitive Grants Program, Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale, IL.
Fitts, J., Fritze, K., Shao, S., Vasconcellos, A., Vergnano, E., and Vuxton, E. (2010). “Perceptions of water scarcity in the triangle.” Research Rep., Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke Univ., Durham, NC.
Flood, P. K., and Wright, K. R. (1998). “Summary of water rights law in the 31 eastern states.” Water rights of the eastern United States, K. R. Wright, ed., American Water Works Association, Denver.
Foran, P. G., Beecher, J. A., and Wilson, L. J. (1995). “Survey of eastern water law.” Rep. to the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources, Indianapolis.
Gaffen, D. J., and Ross, R. J. (1998). “Increased summertime heat stress in the U.S.” Nature, 396(10), 529–530.
Gould, G. A. (2002). “A westerner looks at eastern water law: Reconsideration of prior appropriation in the east.” Univ. Arkansas Little Rock Law Rev., 25(1), 89–122.
Gould, G. A., and Grant, D. L. (2000). Cases and materials on water law, 6th Ed., American Casebook Series, West Group, St. Paul, MN.
Grafton, R. Q., Chu, H. L., Stewardson, M., and Kompas, T. (2011). “Optimal dynamic water allocation: Irrigation extractions and environmental tradeoffs in the Murray River, Australia.” Water Resour. Res., 47(8), W00G08.
Harrison, K. W. (1990). “The allocation of flowing water in humid regions.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL.
Hu, X. (2009). “Fair allocation and trading of surface water rights under the Riparian doctrine.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL.
Kelly, F. P. (1997). “Charging and rate control for elastic traffic.” Eur. Trans. Telecomm., 8(1), 33–37.
Kelly, F. P., Maulloo, A. K., and Tan, D. K. H. (1998). “Rate control for communication networks: Shadow prices, proportional fairness, and stability.” J. Oper. Res. Soc., 49(3), 237–252.
Manuel, J. (2008). “Drought in the Southeast: Lessons for water management.” Environ. Health Persp., 116(4), A168–171.
Nocedal, J., and Wright, S. J. (1999). Numerical optimization, Springer-Verlag, New York.
North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. (2013). “GIS data resources.” 〈http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/〉.
North Carolina Division of Water Resources. (2009). “Neuse River Basin model—Appendix B—Finalized inflow data development.” 〈http://www.ncwater.org/Data_and_Modeling/Neuse_River_Basin_Model〉 (Oct. 5, 2011).
North Carolina Division of Water Resources. (2011). “Raleigh local water supply plan.” 〈http://www.ncwater.org/Water_Supply_Planning/Local_Water_Supply_Plan/report.php?pwsid=03-92-010&year=2011〉 (Feb. 14, 2012).
Sherk, G. W. (1990). “Eastern water law: Trends in state legislation.” Virginia Environ. Law J., 9(2), 287–321.
Tarlock, A. D., Corbridge, J. N., Jr., and Getches, D. H. (2002). Water resource management: A casebook in law and public policy, 5th Ed., Foundation, New York.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). 2010 census, 〈http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/〉 (Aug. 16, 2010).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 7, 2012
Accepted: Apr 5, 2013
Published online: Apr 8, 2013
Discussion open until: Sep 8, 2013
Published in print: May 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.