Overview
If all the people, municipalities, agencies, businesses, power plants, and other entities that think they have a right to the water in Texas actually tried to exercise those rights, there would not be enough water to satisfy all claims, no matter how legitimate. In Sharing the Common Pool: Water Rights in the Everyday Lives of Texans , water rights expert Charles Porter explains in the simplest possible terms who has rights to the water in Texas, who determines who has those rights, and who benefits or suffers because of it. The origins of Texas water law, which contains elements of the state’s Spanish, English, and Republic heritages, contributed to the development of a system that defines water by where it sits, flows, or falls and assigns its ownership accordingly. Over time, this seemingly logical, even workable, set of expectations has evolved into a tortuous collection of laws, permits, and governing authorities under the onslaught of population growth and competing interests—agriculture, industry, cities—all with insatiable thirsts. In sections that cover ownership, use, regulation, real estate, and policy, Porter lays out in as straightforward a fashion as possible just how we manage (and mismanage) water in this state, what legal cases have guided the debate, and where the future might take us as old rivalries, new demands, and innovative technologies—such as hydraulic fracturing of oil shale formations (“fracking”)—help redefine water policy.
Full Product Details
Author: Charles R. Porter ,
Andrew Sansom
Publisher: Texas A & M University Press
Imprint: Texas A & M University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.685kg
ISBN: 9781623491376
ISBN 10: 1623491371
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 30 May 2014
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
"""Charles Porter has given us an invaluable informative work, an 'everyman's' primer on Texas water rights. Porter has done an excellent job not only in examining every facet of Texas water law, but also of raising issues of future water use in a drought prone state.""--Panhandle Plains Historical Review-- ""Panhandle Plains Historical Review"" (2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM)"
Charles Porter has given us an invaluable informative work, an 'everyman's' primer on Texas water rights. Porter has done an excellent job not only in examining every facet of Texas water law, but also of raising issues of future water use in a drought prone state. --Panhandle Plains Historical Review-- (02/20/2015)
Author Information
CHARLES R. PORTER is assistant professor of history at St. Edward’s University in Austin and a licensed real estate agent and broker. He has been a presenter and panel moderator for the Texas legislature, at the Texas Groundwater Summit, and at a joint conference of the Texas Rural Water Association and Texas Water Conservation Association.
