ABSTRACT
This chapter examines four systems and their implications for a Nature's Rights of water: (1) riparian rights, (2) prior appropriation, (3) reserved rights, and (4) water infrastructure. In the last half-century, a fourth area of water use and water law appeared as a result of massive water projects to support burgeoning populations: the law of Water Infrastructure. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was the first major US law focusing on water pollution. According to a 1998 study of water quality in the Willamette River basin of western Oregon conducted by the US Geological Survey, Dixon Creek carried traces of nine pesticides in its waters, as well as fecal coliform bacteria. The Clean Water Act created the basic structure for regulating polluting discharges into the "waters of the United States". Essentially, the law established a national commitment to restore and maintain the biophysical integrity of American waters.
