Redefining "Beneficial Use" to Combat Water Scarcity

Abstract

Many western states in the U.S. are experiencing severe or exceptional drought, where water shortages are common, widespread, and have created troubling emergency conditions. How long these droughts plaguing the West will last is unknown. What is evident, however, is water use under a wellestablished doctrine must change in order to ensure communities do not run out of water. As a decades-long drought persists, frequent higher-than-average temperatures linger due to climate change, and population growth skyrockets, the need to implement a narrower standard for water use in the West is critical.
 The purpose of this Comment is to propose an amendment to the prior appropriation doctrine such that the doctrine promotes sustainable water use, ultimately acting as a hedge against current and future water scarcity crises. This Comment begins with an overview of the current water scarcity crisis, including drought conditions throughout western parts of the United States. Part III then provides a summary of the prior appropriation doctrine, paying special attention to the doctrine’s most important element—beneficial use— before moving into a brief discussion of the main benefits and drawbacks of the current definition of beneficial use. This Comment will end by presenting a modified definition of beneficial use to better equip prior appropriation states with managing water use in areas prone to drought, followed by discussion of likely criticisms of such a redefinition.