Emerging trends in groundwater protection and legislated science

Property development and redevelopment pressures in the United States continue to result in groundwater use conflict. As a result, state legislatures struggle to integrate science and policy into laws and regulations. This paper examines a lively debate that is emerging regarding the degree to which a legislative body should mandate the application of science in an attempt to protect groundwater resources. The goal of a state lawmaker is to develop science-based laws and regulations that satisfy federal initiatives and can be applied on a statewide basis. Through the appointment of science advisory boards and the input provided by environmental agencies and other stakeholders, legislators attempt to obtain knowledgeable scientific information to craft workable groundwater laws and regulations. However, project stakeholders with competing agendas can exert tremendous political influence during the legislative process. In an attempt to satisfy stakeholders, the resulting laws can be prescriptive in some respects and vague in others. Technical guidance documents are often developed by state agencies in an attempt to clarify the intent of the regulations. Lawmakers generally view the process as legislated compromise, but in practice the compromise may result in the conflict of having to choose between good science and bad policy. Common conflicts in applying statewide groundwater protection legislation on a project-specific basis arise from the continued inability to balance legislation and technical guidance. Prescriptive statewide regulatory requirements limit creativity. Vague laws and regulations create unintended ambiguity. For specific projects, the legislative balance of good science and good policy is difficult to achieve.