About Dividing the Waters

For more than 30 years, Dividing the Waters has served the needs of judges adjudicating complex water conflicts, offering education, information resources, and a network of colleagues who could help each other.  In June 2024, the National Judicial College integrated Dividing the Waters into its curriculum and programming.  The change highlights the recognition of the NJC and the Dividing the Waters “Conveners” that judges need comprehensive education and training on water and environmental issues beyond water rights litigation. Read the news release here.

History.  In 1993, Dividing the Waters started as a discussion forum for the judges adjudicating the large “general stream adjudications” of water rights.  The “Conveners,” judges with experience in water adjudication, led the program and invited other judges to join.  As water litigation evolved, so did Dividing the Waters.  Today, it addresses the most critical water issues facing judges today: climate change, water quality, endangered species, and growing cities. In the wake of extreme droughts, state courts started seeing more water cases, and some created “water judge” programs.  They worked with Dividing the Waters, to help their judges learn how best to adjudicate complex water conflicts, which may have thousands of parties and the public interest at the center of the dispute. 

State Court Participation. Today, state courts with a desire to help their judges learn more about water conflicts and adjudication can join Dividing the Waters and contribute to developing the latest educational resources on water for their judges.  The Program has begun creating online, on-demand courses related to water.  These courses will help the judge who gets assigned a water case and has never worked on water, so they can learn the fundamentals of water immediately.  The first online course, on water science, is now available to judges in state courts that have joined Dividing the Waters.  For more information on Dividing the Waters and how your state can participate, please contact Alf W. Brandt at The National Judicial College.

Judicial Consortium on Water and the Environment.  Recognizing the broader needs of state courts to prepare their judges to adjudicate water and environmental disputes, NJC created the Judicial Consortium on Water and the Environment, to foster interstate collaboration in expanding judicial capacity on these critical issues of our time.  NJC invites chief justices from every state to join, or designate a colleague to join, the Consortium.  The Consortium will meet once or twice a year, to share environmental litigation trends in their state and how NJC can serve their needs for judicial education programs on water and the environment.

The Process

Dividing the Waters believes that judges can best make these important public resource decisions with the support of other judges who know how to navigate water conflicts. Always adhering to the Canons of Judicial Conduct, the program helps both federal and state judges:

• Share information about how the different states and courts have structured and conducted stream adjudications and other complex water law litigation.
• Discuss problems in conducting these adjudications and cases, from legal and logistical to intellectual and political.
• Learn what works and what does not work, so other judges do not have to make the same mistakes.
• Benefit from expertise of technical and scientific resource people who are involved in the many subject areas involved in water cases.
• Build a water knowledge network where judges, water masters and referees develop lasting personal and professional relationships.

The Vision

Dividing the Waters prepares the judges of today and tomorrow — across the nation — to apply the law, science, good judgment and wisdom in efficiently and effectively adjudicating water‐related cases, to meet human and environmental needs.

Dividing the Waters connects judges, special masters and referees who preside over complex water litigation to the information and training resources they need to resolve some of the most difficult disputes about how to allocate and share this most precious and communal resource.

Dividing the Waters offers judicial officers with water cases an opportunity to collaborate as a network with a vast array of knowledge of water resources, law and management. The program relies on judges helping judges. Some participants specialize in water litigation and others have a long history with a complex water case. The newest members of the network may have just recently received their first assignment of a water case. All are welcome. Our members include both state and federal judges, as well as other judicial officers who contribute to judicial adjudication of water conflicts.

Mission

Dividing the Waters offers the network and the resources to help judicial officers adjudicate complex water cases. We accomplish this mission through:

• Education. DTW improves judicial understanding of the complexities of water law, management and adjudication through educational programs, at conferences and workshops offered in person and/or via webcast. The education topics include water law and management, science and technology, and effective case management.
• Networking. DTW facilitates understanding through judge-to-judge interaction that fosters strong personal and professional relationships among judges who share a common practice in water conflicts. The program will build and strengthen that network through conferences, mentoring, and web-based connections.
• Information Resources. DTW will develop and offer information resources that are helpful to judicial officers who adjudicate water conflicts. These resources include publications (books and pamphlets), webcasts, connections to other reputable organizations offering resources, and timely summaries of key appellate court decisions.

Funding

The Ford Foundation funded the creation of Dividing the Waters.  For more than 20 years, various foundations funded the program with Hewlett and Bechtel leading the way. In the last decade, it has drawn support from state and federal governments, law schools and the bar.  It started charging tuition for its conferences to support its programs.  Its new funding model relies on collaboration with courts and the philanthropic community, so it can serve the most urgent needs of federal and state judges to understand water conflicts and the best judicial practices to adjudicate and resolve those conflicts now and into the future.    

Academic Freedom Statement

Dividing the Waters provides a forum for judges to discuss issues in a manner that allows them to best serve the public and the judicial system. In order to encourage open discussion and debate among judges, Dividing the Waters maintains the confidentiality of such discussions, consistent with the Canons of Judicial Ethics, while adhering to The National Judicial College’s Academic Freedom Statement.