Abstract
This Article proposes a multi-layered approach to ensuring equality of water access. The legal doctrines for managing water flow in the United States include the public trust doctrine. In contrast, many countries are beginning to establish personhood rights for water. Part I of this Article assesses the public trust doctrine and rights of personhood for water, recommending a hybrid approach. In Part II, this Article argues that establishing personhood rights for water essentially establishes a human right to water. Part III explores the injustices of hydropower and encourages a shift from big dams to small-scale damless hydropower, or hydrokinetics, to better support local ecosystems and communities that rely on the natural flow of water. When rivers flow freely and legal rights are recognized, water is no longer a commodity, a property or resource, to be used. Water becomes an interconnected part of our community, a respected equal, to be protected and cherished.
First Page
21
Custom Citation
Melissa Kay Brown, Beyond Property: Towards New Legal and Physical Approaches to Water Equality, 27 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 21 (2024).