Water Rights

Water rights provide for the allocation of water supplies. Surface Water rights are based on England’s riparian water rights law which is based upon ownership of land bordering water ways. In the more arid western states, water rights are based in part upon the laws that governed gold mining claims—the first to put it to use had a superior right to subsequent claims.

Today, water rights are typically governed by state law, and may be subject to conditions which affect their allocations such as water quality or fishery issues. The increasing development of water supplies has resulted in increased competition for the limited available water supplies and protection of water rights once they were acquired.

GEI provides technical expertise to its clients to provide for the water rights permitting process, as well as the use, management, and protection of their water rights. This often requires the coordination of GEI’s water managers with environmental experts to support legal efforts, in order to identify, acquire, manage, or protect client’s water rights.

GEI has provided water rights support and consulting to develop programs to fully utilize client’s water rights which have include water banking, and water transfers, while balancing regulatory and environmental needs.