---

---

Sponsored by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE.

This report explains how to regulate the routine withdrawal of water efficiently (both bureaucratically and economically) and fairly with minimal involvement of the legal system. Combining years of research with practical techniques to set up a program of water withdrawal regulation, the suggested guidelines in this volume will assist state, provincial, or national regulators in regulating water withdrawals from streams, lakes, aquifers, and reservoirs in regions traditionally under the riparian legal doctrine, as well as guidance on setting up a program of water withdrawal permit trading.

Topics include:

•  resource assessment and maintenance,
•  developing a water withdrawal regulatory program,
•  bases for defining permits,
•  methods for allocating water among users,
•  voluntary permit transfers, and
•  special groundwater issues.

This volume will assist state, provincial, or national agencies to develop a program of water withdrawal regulations for maintaining minimum streamflow standards and to supplement such programs with permit trading for withdrawals that will minimize the economic impact of meeting streamflow standards.