The Status of Alaska Water Export Laws and Water Transfers

Abstract

ADF&G 1994). Many other anadromous fish producing waterways have yet to be investigated and identified. Similarly, there are several thousand waterways yet to be identified that primarily produce resident fish species. Tourism is the fourth largest industry in Alaska; and, it too is based in part on water related recreational and aesthetic opportunities such as fishing, hunting, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, hiking, camping, and sightseeing. Many Alaskans are dependent on water based transportation to move commodities and people to and from many locations with and without other means of year-round access. Lakes and rivers provide boat and fixed wing aircraft (with pontoons) access during the open water season. Ice covered rivers and lakes provide important corridors for travel using snow machines, all terrain vehicles, cross country skis, snow shoes, dogsleds, automobiles, and airplanes (with ski-like landing gear). Alaskan water and related developments that modify amounts of water that remain in lakes and rivers can be categorized as withdrawals of surface and subsurface waters, diversions of surface waters, and impoundment of surface waters for storage and flow release/regulation. Competition for water in Alaska has been mostly confined to population centers and areas with larger concentrations or unique industrial activities such as those associated with oil and mining development, fish processing, fish hatcheries, snow making, and hydropower development. Large quantities of water consumption are also associated with developments of municipal water supplies that serve as a catchall water source for human consumption, including various commercial and industrial uses such as pulp mill operations, fish processing plant operations, hydropower generation, etc. Agricultural uses of water are less prevalent than those in other states. More recently, a new industry has begun to develop based on water export and bottling (Estes 1992-1998, Harle and Estes 1993, Global Water 1999). Chalecki (2000) has performed a review of environmental, economic, and ecosystem considerations associated with water exports and marketing, including North American Fair Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and World Trade Organization (WTO), and opposing opinions. under consideration, and most likely to impact water availability in the short-term, are associated with water exports, hydropower generation, public water supplies, and petroleum development. ALASKA'S CONSTITUTION, WATER USE ACT, AND REGULATIONS Constitution Alaska's Constitution was established at the time of statehood in 1959 and requires that waters in the state be administered under the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation (Article VIII, Section 13). Articles VIII, Sections 1, 2, 3, 13, and 16 provide the basic framework for the state to manage its waters in the public interest. Framers of the Constitution recognized that the overall socioeconomic well-being of Alaskans was and will be dependent on the state properly balancing the management of its water and other natural resources as a Public ...

Return to the River: Environmental Flow Policy in the United States and Canada1

“…Alaska allows anyone to file for a reservation of water within a river and lake under state law. Despite its vast quantities of water in thousands of fish‐bearing rivers and lakes, only a few private reservations have been applied for since passage of the 1980 enabling legislation (Estes, 2001, 2008).…”