Water law

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Water laws are regulated individually by sovereign states. Globally, there are no universal rules that water related service providers need to fulfill. This goes for both the water-and-sewerage service providers and bottled water producers.

However, for countries within the European Union, water-related directives are important for water resource management and environmental and water quality standards. Key directives include the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 1992 [1] (requiring most towns and cities to treat their wastewater to specified standards), and the Water Framework Directive 2000, which requires water resource plans based on river basins, including public participation based on Aarhus Convention principles. See Watertime - the international context, Section 2.

Water law in the United States

In the United States there are complex legal systems for allocating water rights that vary by region. Generally the Eastern States follow the riparian doctrine which permits anyone whose land has frontage on a body of water to use water from it. The Western states generally follow the appropriation doctrine which gives a water right to whoever first puts water to beneficial use. Colorado water law is generally looked to as authority by other Western states which follow the appropriation doctrine. Surface water, lakes, rivers, and springs, is treated differently from ground water, underground water extracted by drilling wells.