Book Description

History records attempts by various peoples to insure water supplies. Some historians have interpreted Genesis as indicating the beginning of irrigation: "A river went out of Eden to water the garden." Irrigation was practiced long ago in China, India, Armenia, Mexico, and Central America. Mesopotamian canals, one over two hundred miles long and four hundred feet wide, were built in the third millennium B.C. in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The purpose of this article is to explore legal aspects of water resources planning in Kansas. In part I we examine the history of state planning efforts and scrutinize the recent amendments to statutes that set current water planning mechanisms into play. Part II considers four specific issues that have emerged from the water planning debates and explores the legal aspects of these issues.