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44 Ecology L. Currents 101 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/ecolwcur44 and id is 1 raw text is: Bridging the Divide: Incorporating Interflow into Legal Discourse on Surface Water-Groundwater Interactions Reshmina William* andA. Bryan Endres** INTRODUCTION Despite the traditional separation of groundwater and surface water in academic and legal literature, both systems are in fact tightly interconnected. This artificial distinction persists due to the idea that groundwater movement takes place on a much larger timescale than surface water flows.1 While this differentiation is true to some extent, it ignores the significant impact that subsurface flows can have on surface stream baseflow during droughts and peak flow floods.2 In addition, the differentiation between surface water and groundwater flows has historically led to confusion over how to legally address water quality concerns in systems that handle subsurface flows. As discussed below, the pending Des Moines Water Works litigation3 regarding pollution outflows from subsurface drainage infrastructures provides an excellent case study in the importance of legal distinctions between the different types of flow. Such distinctions may fundamentally alter the Clean Water Act's application in the agricultural context. Copyright 0 2017 by Reshmina William and A. Bryan Endres * PhD Candidate, University of Illinois, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. ** Professor of Food & Agricultural Law, University of Illinois, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. 1. Mehdi Ghasemizade & Mario Schirmer, Subsurface Flow Contribution in the Hydrological Cycle: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead-A Review, 69 ENVTL. EARTH SCI. 707, 708 (2013). 2. Id. 3. Bd. of Water Works Trs. of Des Moines v. Sac Cty. Bd. of Supervisors as Trs. of Drainage Dists. 32, 42, 65, 79, 81, 83, 86, No. 5:15-cv-04020, 2015 WL 1191173 (N.D. Iowa filed Mar. 16, 2015). 101