{"id":31897,"date":"2026-07-10T14:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=31897"},"modified":"2026-07-10T14:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:07:46","slug":"the-growing-role-of-local-governments-in-governing-water-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2026\/07\/the-growing-role-of-local-governments-in-governing-water-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"The Growing Role of Local Governments in Governing Water Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With few exceptions, the development and administration of water law (and environmental law more generally) have been the responsibility of either the federal government or the states. In matters related to the control of water pollution, for example, a \u201ccooperative federalism\u201d approach predominates. A federal statute, the Clean Water Act, provides the substance. Yet it is largely administered and enforced by the states, with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting mostly in a standard-setting role. By contrast, matters of water quantity and allocation are largely governed by state law. The balance between federal and state power has not been entirely stable over the years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasingly, both the federal and state governments have been unable to effectively and conclusively address some pressing water-related matters. They may be underfunded, understaffed, or politically paralyzed, among other obstacles, or they may simply choose not to regulate. This has created an opportunity for local governments to exert greater control over decisions about water resources. The remainder of this post examines the role of Wisconsin municipalities related to three water-related issues: data centers, the privatization of critical infrastructure, and the rights of nature movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data centers. <\/em>Data centers are large warehouses containing computer servers, data storage equipment, and related digital infrastructure supporting technologies upon which our society increasingly relies, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and video streaming. They can be significant economic development engines but have become highly controversial because of their heavy use of water and energy. Recent results from the Marquette Law School poll show that 71 percent of respondents nationally <\/a>and 69 percent within Wisconsin<\/a> believe that the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, both the federal and Wisconsin governments have declined to step in. The EPA recently announced that it will not seek to regulate data centers<\/a>. On the contrary, \u201cwe want more data centers built,<\/a>\u201d said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and the agency will work with developers to encourage them to do just that. At the state level, Wisconsin legislators notably failed to enact a state law to regulate data centers<\/a>, despite a dire warning<\/a> from longtime Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That left Wisconsin municipalities to fend for themselves when considering how to deal with data center developers. Municipalities must decide, for example, whether to allow a proposed data center to hook up to a publicly owned water system (and how to control the amount of water the data center uses); how much information to release about a data center\u2019s proposed water use, given that many developers have requested non-disclosure agreements; whether to grant tax incentives to developers in the hope of economic development; and whether to enact moratoria on data center developments. A proposal pending before the Milwaukee City Council<\/a> would effectively ban data centers of more than 60,000 square feet, restrict water use at smaller data centers, and mandate certain transparency measures. Other Wisconsin municipalities, including Madison, have enacted moratoria on new data center projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ownership and management of critical water infrastructure<\/em>. Many municipalities own or manage water infrastructure through their operation of water and wastewater treatment systems. Increasing financial pressures have caused some local governments to contract out the management of those systems, or even to sell the systems outright to private operators. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has recently been subjected to criticism<\/a> over the actions of its contractor, Veolia, in operating its wastewater infrastructure. Interestingly, on the energy front, Milwaukee officials have debated the possibility of attempting to take over energy infrastructure currently owned by We Energies within the city limits<\/a>. The company holds a monopoly on electricity generation in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rights of Nature movement. <\/em>Finally, though it\u2019s certainly not front-page news in the same sense as the preceding two issues, in late 2023 Milwaukee County became the first county in Wisconsin, and one of the first nationwide, to pass<\/a> a \u201cRights of Nature\u201d (RON) resolution<\/a> to ensure that \u201chuman activities do not interfere with nature and its ability to be healthy, robust, and resilient.\u201d The resolution emphasized the County\u2019s interest in protecting its \u201cwaterways and bodies of water.\u201d This represents a relatively mild formation of the RON movement; in other places, it has been crafted to allow natural entities to assert legal rights to counter alleged wrongs committed by governments and private parties. Scholars have expressed doubt<\/a> about the approach and its viability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, in late 2025 Wisconsin Republicans were concerned enough to introduce a bill<\/a> banning \u201crights of nature\u201d ordinances in Wisconsin, warning that such measures could threaten rights in private property. The bill passed the legislature, but in March 2026, Democratic Governor Tony Evers vetoed the law. His veto message was most interesting. He wrote<\/a>: \u201cI trust our local governments and the Tribal Nations of Wisconsin to know best how to address environmental concerns within their communities and how to protect the natural resources that are vital to local health, economies and quality of life.\u201d That sounds like a recipe for even more local involvement in water law and environmental law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With few exceptions, the development and administration of water law (and environmental law more generally) have been the responsibility of either the federal government or the states. In matters related to the control of water pollution, for example, a \u201ccooperative federalism\u201d approach predominates. A federal statute, the Clean Water Act, provides the substance. Yet it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,122,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-law","category-public","category-water-law","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31898,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897\/revisions\/31898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}