As water becomes ever more important in a rapidly growing United States challenged by lessening firm-yield water reliability, the public needs to understand the myriads of quite different state-by-state water policies. States share surface water and groundwater sources that relate to each other conjunctively. Texans for example, should understand New Mexico water ownership and state policies because they share surface water and groundwater sources. Californians should understand Nevada’s water policies for the same reasons. Above all else, the people of the United States must realize that a water policy in one state can drastically impact water availability in neighboring states. Although the federal government has supra-legal authority over some state water policies and acts as the ultimate arbiter of interstate disputes, no one current book exists that explains the complicated relationships between state water policies with an analysis of federal water policies. Water Rights and Polices in the United States is a one-stop resource providing a state-by-state analysis of water ownership, regulatory agencies, and water polices. It explains the complicated relationships between state water policies and provides and analysis of federal water polices. How we manage these policies is of utmost importance to all Americans.

Although water is nature's most important molecule; its regulation and management are the most challenging public policy issues for any society. Water is the common denominator of all life on earth. Public water policies then become the fundamental foundations of community formation anywhere. Cities exist in their places based on the local access to adequate amounts of fresh water. Without fair, workable, and transparent public water policy any society is threatened with socio-economic destruction, especially in the arid areas living under severe drought and the threat of warming trends worldwide. Public Water Policies: The Ultimate Weapons of Social Control *Provides an interdisciplinary view of water policies worldwide *Critically analyzes the consequences of water policies around the world, many that are not only overlooked, but that have never been considered *Analyzes the conflicts in social values of any society that demand hard choices between population growth, economic growth, and the environment *Provides a new perspective on the overall long-reaching economic consequences of water policy. *Offers four new terms to describe public water policies in relation to social control: due process social control, deceptive social control, diplomatic social control, and destructive social control *Compares and contrasts water policies in key places in the world using the new terms of social control to enlighten the public and especially those water policymakers worldwide

In 1718, the Spanish settled San Antonio, partly because of its prolific and breathtaking springs-at that time, one of the largest natural spring systems in the known world. The abundance of fresh water, coupled with the Spanish colonial legal concept that water was to be equitably shared by all settlers, led to the building of the system of acequias (canals or ditches) within the settlement. The system is one of the earliest and perhaps most extensive municipal water systems in North America. This book offers a meticulous chronicling of the origins and often-contentious development of water rights in San Antonio from its Spanish settlement through the beginning of the twentieth century. CHARLES R. PORTER JR. is a real estate and construction expert, Texas Real Estate Commission instructor, and adjunct professor of history at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.