Water and Wetlands 

Water is needed nearly everywhere, and there is a lot going on to keep it between too much and not enough.

Droughts and floods are damaging or deadly.  The trickle-down of watersheds through streams, lakes, and groundwater can be diverted, depleted, or dirtied along the way.  Some of this is necessary; some of it is a nuisance, or worse.

The technical issues are in delivering and keeping water where needed at the right level of quality.  The legal issues arise when amount and quality don’t measure up to private water rights or public requirements.  The most difficult issue in water lately is called Waters of the US (WOTUS).  This the problem of identifying how far up a watershed the Federal government can take jurisdiction over water.  There is no clear line in the mixing zone between waterways that float boats (where Federal law rules) and the smallest headwaters (where States rule).

Watershed Results has been involved in WOTUS, Federally-reserved water rights, instream flows, water trading, Bureau of Reclamation irrigation projects, dams such as on the Columbia River and the Klamath Basin, and “guzzlers” – catchments in the desert that replace water for wildlife where natural water has been diverted for human use.