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League of Women Voters of the Upper Valley

Hanover, NH, Norwich, VT and neighboring towns

updated 7/27/04 Home Page >> talks at recent League forums

National and International Water Issues

A talk by Prof. Frank Magilligan, Chair Dept. of Geography, Dartmouth College; National and International Hydrologist Reported by Sarah Drew Reeves.
From the 2003 series "WATER: Quality? Quantity? Quandaries?" sponsored by the LWVUV Natural Resources Committee

I. Divided responsibilities in water management

Many forms of water user groups exist. Any changes in distribution, abundance and quality of water threaten human needs and sustainability of resource. Professor Magilligan indicated that diverse agencies are responsible for different aspects of managing water. These agencies reflect diverse uses- hydropower, transportation, etc. No single agency at the national and state level is responsible for water management. In the West, concern is with water quantity; in the East the main concern has been water quality.

How is it possible to merge local, regional and national dimensions re policies for water? Water has traditionally been a states’ right issue. State law is based on two legal systems concerned with quantity: Riparian Law, which affects the East, and Prior Appropriation Doctrine, which is only concerned with water in the West. For the prior appropriations doctrine, the date of one's claim determines priority for water, thus, even if you are upstream, you can’t use the water if someone downstream has a prior claim.

There are no easy generalizations, for example, in the United States quantity & quality are issues for both East and West. The Drought last summer raised issue of quantity for the East (where previous concerns only focused on quality.)

His guide: who pays? how much? who benefits? The papers are full of articles on the topic:
Examples from the Valley News: "Sewage threatens DHMC addition"
"Sewage Hookups Key for Enfield Rate" Valley News 1/31/03

II. History of national legislation

The focus of water protection has traditionally been human consumption. This has changed, so that now non-human consumption and ecological sustainability are considered. Water quality issues are a relatively new concern, and grew as government got bigger.

1899 Rivers and Harbors Act. –Wherein the Corps of Engineers had responsibility for dredging for transportation.
1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act--the first real water quality act.
1970 National Environmental Policy Act
1972 Clean Water Act -- reconfiguring 1948 law.
This instituted technology based standards —we know what the best technology is to provide clean effluent discharge, and Water Quality based standards—we don’t have the technology but will monitor the water. This is the test currently used most.
1973 Endangered Species Act This added quality concerns for non-human consumers and dealt with in-stream flows, minimum flows. Flora & fauna have "standing" as species that use water. Official concern established for health of stream and habitat.

III. International concerns

A. Are we running out of water that is inexpensive and high in quality?

Water use in selected countries, 1994

The US was the highest with 1868 cubic meters per capita. Of this the highest per cents were for agricultural uses at 45%, industrial uses 42%.
The UK was the lowest with 253 cubic meters per capita. domestic uses were 20% agricultural 3% and industrial 77%.

In the US, the West uses high tech, expensive systems for water. The East depends on rain. The granting of subsidies is an issue. Farmers pay $15-18/acre foot for irrigation water, but the city of Los Angeles is willing to pay $600/acre foot for drinking water.

In South America, Peru is a desert except for river valleys. Some of their water comes from canal ditches which are inexpensive and traditional.

In the Middle East, on the Euphrates river, Turkey is proposing a dam 10 miles north of Syria—for drinking and agriculture. Its purpose is to prevent Kurds from resettling in Istanbul. Since it was so political, the World Bank would not fund it. Turkey is financing it.

B. Development of hydro electric power:

Hydro power equals political power; multiple uses help to justify these dams. Examples are Africa and Turkey, where cash crops can be grown with irrigation water, as well as power source from dam, and Kurds will be kept in the countryside. In South America the Amazon River Basin will become a critical issue. No more big dams are planned for the USA.

C. Big Issue: Urban vs. agricultural uses. vs .ecological sustainability.

For example, Mono lake is one of the most important test cases. It is east of the high sierras. Read: Cadillac Desert by Reisner, and see the movie, Chinatown, regarding taking of water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles. The Sierra Club urges protection for ecosystem regeneration.

We see these issues near at home on the Connecticut River watershed basin. We are looking now at hydrologic changes, their impact on the environment. Dams have an impact in the Connecticut River watershed basin. Some were built to prevent flooding, following major floods in 1927 (where 1.5 years' worth of rain fell in four days,) 1936, 1938 and 1955. Dams create a false sense of security. Instead, we can have non-structural protections such as greenbelts.

Dams are a barrier to fish such as salmon moving upstream to spawn. Fish ladders have been built at some dams to make it possible for fish to move upstream. Trucks are another solution. (The fish are captured and carried by truck around the barrier.)

The White River is the longest unregulated river in New England.

Effects of impoundment by dams:

Ecological concerns: endangered species: dwarf wedge mussel, cobblestone tiger beetle, Jessup’s Milk Vetch
Threatened communities --floodplain forestImpact of impoundment (dams): eliminates free flowing Annual/Semi-Annual scouring flood, which causes death of some dominant, inedible invertebrate species, allowing edible subdominants to persist. The flow discrepancies of a "wild" (undammed) river increase diversity and also increase energy in the river system. Dam releases erode stream banks and widen the river.
The largest flows of the Connecticut River were reduced by 35% by impounding. However, they also have an effect on minimum flows. Regulation in 1970’s increased the flow on Connecticut River to ecologically sustainable levels. Flow regime management is the key to restoration of floodplain forest.

Major Shifts in water management:

Moving from point sources of pollution to non-point sources, which uses the TMDL (total maximum daily load) provisions approach
Legislation previously focused on what was easier to target: point sources, such as factories, municipal sewage plants.
Now non-point sources are increasingly becoming focus of legislation, such as farm fields in agriculture, as well as urban and commercial sources.
One of other issues is dam removal In last the 10 years, 500 have been taken out in the US. However, sediments behind the dams are hugely polluted, so the problem is compounded if a dam is removed.

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