Lessons from United States Supreme Court Jurisprudence for Resolving Australian Interstate Groundwater Disputes

Humans have, for a long time, built civilizations in close proximity to rivers for transportation and water consumption. Reliance on surface water can be traced all the way back to the first civilizations, including Ancient Egypt, which grew around the Nile River. However, groundwater has become the preferred source of water for many regions, cities, and countries because of new groundwater pumping technologies. Unlike surface water, groundwater is generally less polluted, does not evaporate, and can be used to service areas isolated from rivers and lakes. However, like surface water, groundwater is finite.