Doctoral Dissertation Research: Land Use and Water Law in the United States: Seeking Integrated Legal Solutions to the Water Resource Challenges of Suburban Sprawl

随着全球人口从农村转移到城市地区，满足对清洁、充足的水供应日益增长的需求正成为一个日益困难的问题。 在美国，城市无计划的增长带来了一个特别复杂的挑战，因为它增加了对水的需求，同时危及供水来源。解决这一问题的一个重要和有效的办法是，通过对水资源产生较少负面影响的方式进行建设，在无计划扩张的影响发生之前加以避免。不幸的是，当地有关发展的土地使用决定通常与水资源考虑无关。 认识到需要更好地整合土地和水资源管理，美国各地的一些司法管辖区已经尝试在土地使用和水资源之间建立法律的联系。例如，加州要求大型分区的开发商向当地开发许可机构证明，将有足够的供水来满足至少20年的拟议开发需求，而马萨诸塞州则对该州大多数河流200英尺以内的拟议项目进行额外的开发审查。 本博士论文的研究提供了这些努力的第一个系统的审查，并评估如何以及每一个整合土地利用和水资源决策的角度来看，环境和法律的“最佳做法。“为此，本项目调查了以下问题：（1）成功地将土地使用和水资源结合起来的法律的框架是什么样的？(2)现有的综合法律的框架是否能够应对郊区化过程中相互交织的土地使用和水管理挑战？以及（3）实现土地利用和水资源决策的监管一体化的先决条件是什么？ 为了解决这些问题，调查人员进行了一项逐州调查，以确定和评估综合监管制度。 为了更深入地了解这些方案的潜力和局限性，从全国调查中选择了两个有综合法律的制度范例的州作进一步调查。 该项目采用了法律的研究和与土地使用和水管理社区的主要知情人进行访谈相结合的方法。 这一评价为进一步规定将土地使用和水管理的法律的框架结合起来的途径奠定了基础，以鼓励水的可持续性。解决美国新出现的一系列水问题需要在水、土地利用和法律之间建立新的联系的解决方案。迄今为止，在地理学或法律方面，很少有文献涉及这些相互联系及其对环境健康和城市可持续性的重大影响。 在解决这一差距的同时，该项目还将为美国目前缺乏有效整合土地使用和水资源管理的法律的先决条件的许多地方提供路线图。

As the global population shifts from rural to urban areas, meeting the growing demand for clean, adequate supplies of water is becoming an increasingly difficult problem. In the U.S., the sprawling form of urban growth has created a particularly complicated challenge in that it increases demand for water while simultaneously endangering sources of supply. An important and efficient solution to the problem is to avert the impacts of sprawl before they occur by building in a way that has fewer negative impacts on water resources. Unfortunately, the local land use decisions that govern development are usually made in isolation from water resource considerations. Recognizing the need to better integrate land and water management, a number of jurisdictions throughout the U.S. have experimented with creating a legal nexus between land use and water resources. For example, California requires developers of large subdivisions to demonstrate to the local development permitting agency that there will be adequate water supply to meet the demands of the proposed development for at least 20 years, while Massachusetts imposes an additional layer of development review for proposed projects within 200 feet of most rivers in the state. This doctoral dissertation research provides the first systematic review of these efforts and evaluates how well each integrates land use and water resource decision-making from the perspective of environmental and legal "best practices." To do so, this project investigates the following questions: (1) what would a legal framework that successfully integrates land use and water resources look like?; (2) are existing examples of integrated legal frameworks capable of addressing the intertwined land use and water management challenges of suburbanization?; and (3) what are the pre-conditions to achieving regulatory integration of land use and water resources decision-making? To address these questions, the investigators undertake a state-by-state survey to identify and evaluate integrated regulatory regimes. To obtain deeper understanding of both the potential and the limitations of these programs, two states with examples of integrated legal regimes are chosen from the national survey for further investigation. The project employs a combination of legal research and interviews with key informants in the land use and water management communities. This evaluation forms the foundation for prescribing further avenues for integrating the legal frameworks of land use and water management to encourage water sustainability. Addressing the suite of emerging water concerns in the United States will require solutions that forge new connections among water, land use, and law. To date, there is little literature in either geography or law that addresses these interconnections and their significant implications for environmental health and urban sustainability. While addressing that gap, this project will also provide a roadmap for the many places in the U.S. that currently lack the legal prerequisites to integrate land use and water resource management effectively.