Reading list

Ordered by how useful each is to you specifically. Not exhaustive, curated.

Read these 3 first

Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner (1986, revised 1993). The book on western water. It’s history, engineering, and political corruption told as narrative, and it’s genuinely gripping. Everything in the western half of this repo makes more sense after it. The 1997 PBS documentary series is a decent substitute if you want the short version.

The Great Lakes Water Wars, Peter Annin (2nd ed. 2018). The book on your region. Covers the CompactcompactA binding agreement between states that Congress approves. Once approved it becomes federal law and overrides conflicting state rules. The Great Lakes Compact is one.’s creation, the Waukesha fight, and the diversiondiversionMoving water out of the Great Lakes basin. The Compact bans new ones except in a few narrow cases. battles in detail. Written by a journalist who covered it firsthand.

Water Law in a Nutshell, David Getches, Sandra Zellmer, Adell Amos (5th ed.). The standard law student overview. It’s a real legal text, dense but short, and it will make you dangerous in a conversation with an attorney.

Wisconsin specific

• Wisconsin Water Law materials from the UW Law School and the Wisconsin Legislative Council. The Legislative Council’s issue briefs on high capacity wellshigh capacity wellIn Wisconsin, a well (or all wells on 1 property combined) capable of pumping 100,000 gallons a day or more. These need DNR approval. An ordinary house well does not. and shoreland zoningshoreland zoningCounty rules controlling what you can build within 1,000 feet of a lake or 300 feet of a river. They set your setbacks, your buffer, and how much of the lot you can pave. are free, short, and current.
• Wisconsin DNR shoreland zoningshoreland zoningCounty rules controlling what you can build within 1,000 feet of a lake or 300 feet of a river. They set your setbacks, your buffer, and how much of the lot you can pave. guidance and the NR 115 model ordinance. Dry, and it’s the actual rule you’ll live under.
• UW-Madison Division of Extension groundwater and private well publications. Written for homeowners, technically sound, free.
• The Wisconsin Idea and the Public Trust Doctrinepublic trust doctrineThe state holds navigable waters and the land beneath them for everyone, and cannot sign that away. Wisconsin's version is written into the state constitution and is among the strongest in the country., various law review treatments. Search Marquette Law Review and Wisconsin Law Review for public trustpublic trust doctrineThe state holds navigable waters and the land beneath them for everyone, and cannot sign that away. Wisconsin's version is written into the state constitution and is among the strongest in the country. articles from 2012 onward, which cover the post-Act 21 fight.
• Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey county geology reports. Get the one for whatever county you’re shopping in. These are the reference for what’s under the ground.

Water markets and investing

• WestWater Research quarterly Water Market Insider. The reference source for western transaction pricing, and the data behind the NQH2O index.
• Water in Plain Sight, Judith Schwartz. Ecological framing, useful counterweight to the pure market view.
• Chasing Water, Brian Richter. Practical water management and allocation, readable.
• The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi. Fiction, near-future Colorado River collapse, and it’s the most fun way to internalize prior appropriationprior appropriationThe western US rule. Whoever first took water and put it to use has the strongest claim, no matter where their land sits. The shorthand is "first in time, first in right." and the value of a senior right.

The Arizona and Colorado River story

• Science Be Dammed, Eric Kuhn and John Fleck (2019). How the Colorado River CompactcompactA binding agreement between states that Congress approves. Once approved it becomes federal law and overrides conflicting state rules. The Great Lakes Compact is one. was negotiated on knowingly optimistic hydrology. Short and damning.
• Where the Water Goes, David Owen (2017). A journalist drives the Colorado River. Accessible entry point.
• Arizona Department of Water Resources AMAActive Management AreaAn Arizona zone where groundwater pumping is actually regulated: metered, reported, and capped. Outside these zones there historically were no limits at all. management plans and the Ranegras Plain designation record. Primary source, and the January 2026 Findings, Decision and Order is worth skimming to see how the sausage is made.
• Arizona Republic water coverage, especially the 2022 Fondomonte investigation by Ian James. This is the reporting that started the political chain.

Case law, if you want primary sources

Free and complete:

• CourtListener (courtlistener.com), free full-text search of federal and state opinions
• Justia (law.justia.com), clean case pages with good citation formatting
• Wisconsin Court System opinions (wicourts.gov), the official source for Wisconsin decisions
• Oyez (oyez.org), Supreme Court oral argument audio and case summaries

The briefs in ../01-cases/ link to sources for each case.

Ongoing sources worth following

Data and tools you’ll come back to

Full annotated list with URLs in ../03-wisconsin-great-lakes/04-key-agencies-and-data-sources.md.

A suggested 6 week path

If you want structure.