Introduction

This research guide describes resources in the Georgetown Law Library and on the Internet for researching water law at the federal and state level. It does not attempt to cover international water law. Since there is often overlap with environmental law and land use, you may want to review our guides on these topics as well.

If you have any questions or need additional research assistance, please stop by the Library's Reference Desk, send us an email, or schedule an in-depth research consultation.

Background - Treatises & Texts

Because water law is a complicated area of the law that involves federal, state and local laws, it is often helpful to begin research in a treatise that provides an overview of the law.

Cases and Materials on Water Law, George A. Gould, Douglas L. Grant, Gregory S. Weber (7th ed. 2005), KF644 .T73

Law of Water Rights and Resources, A. Dan Tarlock (1988 - ), KF5569 .T37 (also available on Westlaw: LWATRR)

Legal Control of Water Resources: Cases and Materials, Joseph L. Sax (4th ed. 2006), KF5568 .S28

Principles of Water Law and Administration: National and International, Dante A. Caponera (2nd ed. 2007), K3496 .C36

Water Law in a Nutshell, David H. Getches (4th ed. 2009), KF5569.3 .G48

Waters and Water Rights, Robert E. Beck, ed. (1991-2008), KF645 .W3

In addition to the treatises listed above, the library owns a variety of general and specialized resources covering water law. To find other resources:

• Try browsing the shelves around the call numbers listed for the treatises above. Generally, most resources can be found in the KF644 and KF5569 range.
• Try a subject search in GULLiver or George (the main campus library's catalog) for one of the following subject headings:
  Water -- Law and Legislation -- United States
  Water Rights -- United States
• Use the Library's Treatise Finder to locate additional major publications and electronic databases on water law and related topics.
  

Legislation - Federal & State

Federal and state statutes can be researched and retrieved in various forms and locations online. Tutorial

Title 33 of the United States Code (KF62 2006 .A2 v. 33) deals with navigation and navigable water. Much of the federal legislation will be found there, including:

Safe Drinking Water Act - statutes and regulations on the EPA website
Clean Water Act - summary and links to statute on EPA website
Prevention of Pollution from Ships - U.S. Code, Title 33, Chapter 33

State Water Codes:

Internet Resources

General Websites on Water Law

• Center for Water Resources - University of California
• FindLaw's Update on Water Law
• Library of California Current Large Marine Ecosystem Law and Regulation - includes U.S. statutes and regulations, as well as state material from California, Oregon, and Washington
• Megalaw's Water Law Resources
  
• National Institutes for Water Resources - provides links to all 50 state research centers
• Northwest Water Law & Policy Project - Lewis & Clark School of Law
  

Federal Agency Websites on Water Law

• U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Water Resources
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water
• U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources of the United States
  

Law Reviews & Journal Indexes

To do a comprehensive search of the journal literature on your topic, you must use journal indexes. The full-text journal databases on Lexis and Westlaw do not contain all of the law journals published, and, for those that are included, the starting date of coverage is rarely volume 1.

The journal indexes, in contrast, include virtually all legal journals from volume 1 and, in the case of the Legal Resource Index, legal newspapers as well.

For research on water law prior to 1980, older journals can provide excellent background information and discussions of policy issues.

• Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (Retrospective)
• LegalTrac (formerly Legal Resource Index)
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
  

Some specialized journals on the topic of water law include:

Land and Water Law Review - University of Wyoming (ceased publication in 2000)
Water Law Review - University of Denver
Wyoming Law Review - replaced Land and Water Law Review 

created 08/08 (MK)
updated 10/10 (AJC)
library links 09/12 (ET)