User:VUcnic/Water resources law

History
The history of people's relation to water illustrates varied approaches to the management of water resources. "Lipit Ishtar and Ur Nammu both contain water provisions, pre-date Hammurabi by at least 250 years, and clearly provide the normative underpinnings on which the Hammurabi Code was constructed." The Code of Hammurabi was one of the earliest written laws to deal with water issues, and this code included the administration of water use. At the time the code was written in ancient Mesopotamia, the civilizations in the surrounding lands were dependent on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to survive. As a result, the leaders needed to develop intricate canal and irrigation systems to sustain their needs for the water. The code was developed about 3,800 years ago by King Hammurabi of Babylonia.

International law
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Additionally, the United Nations passed a resolution stating that the member states "recognize the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights."

Riparian Water Laws
Many states in the US, such as Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, employ a riparian system of law when it comes to water resources. This means that the owner of the land directly next to a body of water has the sole right to use that water.

More geographic jurisdictions, how it effects biodiversity and sustainability