Water law rising as a new  practice area

Marquette Law School adds new course to curriculum

by Jack Zemlicka

June 22, 2009

Over the next decade, legal questions over the use and conservation of the state’s water supply are expected to multiply like the boats that dot the 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin each summer.

According to attorneys who handle water-related issues as part of their practices, concerns over how water is used and who has access will grow as the population increases and the climate changes.

Coupled with recent regulatory efforts such as the Great Lakes Compact of 2008, which seeks to divide and limit water use among the eight states touching the Great Lakes and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and recent bids by suburban areas in Wisconsin to import water from Lake Michigan, these developments are fueling an emerging practice area — Water Law.

“This is a cutting edge area of the law,” said Matthew Parlow, a professor at Marquette University Law School. “Water usage will be one of the major legal issues of the next few decades.”