In this month’s column in The Legal Intelligencer/Pennsylvania Law Weekly, I discuss Pennsylvania’s State Water Plan, which was recently amended to designate “critical water planning areas.” Passed in 2002, the Water Resourcees Planning Act (Act 220) called for six regional committees and one statewide committee to develop the Plan and then to designate these “critical water planning areas.” The State Water Plan attempts to avoid potential water resource conflicts created by residential land use, agriculture, and — the most water-intensive activity — thermo-electric power plants. While it receives a great deal of press currently, water used to support development of Marcellus Shale natural gas wells receives only cursory treatment in the current Plan because of the age of the available data. Click here to view the full article.
