7 - The Next Transresource

Summary

The suggested shift in policy perspective from groundwater to aquifers challenges the traditional approach to groundwater as a public resource issue. The legal issues involving aquifers are a complex combination of public rights and private property. Groundwater is traditionally a publicly held resource, yet the aquifer’s storage space appears to be considered private property. Although these resources are interconnected, courts have taken different approaches to addressing conflicts that involve indirect effects of groundwater extraction, like subsidence and subterranean trespass. Some states and courts treat pore spaces akin to a mineral right and protect private uses, like carbon sequestration. In other cases, courts have treated pore spaces as a public resource and refused claims of trespass and nuisance when adjacent aquifer uses interfered with private property rights. There is no clear consensus as to the ownership of aquifer pore spaces.