EAST ST. LOUIS - Cahokia Heights claims residents suing for better sewers filled a brief about a possible consent decree with inaccuracies, misstatements, and misrepresentations.
EAST ST. LOUIS - Local leaders, who for two years ignored discovery requests of Centreville area residents suing for better sewers, are now claiming they found 8,748 pages of evidence in a closet in the basement of the former Centreville city hall.
EAST ST. LOUIS - The civil rights group NAACP sent general counsel Martina Tiku here on behalf of Cahokia Heights residents suing for better sanitary and storm sewers after the city sought to dismiss or stay the suit.
EAST ST. LOUIS – Cahokia Heights argued at U.S. district court that development in mostly white communities caused the failure of storm and sanitary sewers in its mostly black community.
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Introduction
In the western United States, water law developed around two main principles: (l) the goal of full beneficial use of water, and (2) the need to afford vested water right holders certainty as to their rights. At the time western water codes developed, these goals were seemingly in harmony rewarding those who needed the water and invested in infrastructure for water use with rights that were enforceable against subsequent appropriators. Over the decades, as water needs and demands were reshaped by changing land use priorities, economics, and technology, these principles began to conflict with each other. Water right holders who had initially beneficially used water, and thus were afforded certainty regarding their future water use through water rights, no longer consistently used the water to which they were entitled. Thus, state water regimes were adjusted to enforce beneficial use requirements through abandonment and forfeiture laws