Practice areas – Water

Collaborative Processes has substantial experience in water. Its principal, Joe McMahon, has served in the roles of facilitator, mediator, arbitrator, lawyer and water project manager. In his practice, Joe McMahon has worked with a wide variety of water stakeholders including, among others: farmers, ranchers, sprinkler irrigators, irrigation ditches/mutual ditch companies, ground water users (irrigation and DCMI), cities/municipalities, water boards, water districts, water commissioners, water conservancy districts, equipment manufacturers, state regulatory agencies, and federal regulatory agencies. He has worked in association with water organizations such as the American Water Works Association, Water For People, SNV and the World Bank-Water and Sanitation Program, as well as multiple U.S. or European nongovernmental organizations.

Collaborative Processes has worked in a wide variety of water matters including:

  • Long range water supply planning
  • Aquifer and basin water management plans
  • Conjunctive management
  • Interstate water matters
  • Water litigation.
  • Surface water hydrology including rain fall runoff prediction, flood prediction, river modeling, precipitation patterns and river system changes due to reservoirs.
  • Irrigation water usage including diversion, consumptive use and return flow studies.
  • Surface water-ground water interconnection including depletion studies on ground water or of ground water use on surface flows.
  • Competing water demand studies and litigation include surface ground water disputes.
  • Ground water flow patterns including interconnection among various aquifers.
  • Design, construction and use of water reservoirs and distribution systems.
  • River rehabilitation programs.
  • Urban drainage.
  • Water Conservancy Districts and their operations and management.
  • Water rights including appropriation, sale, transfer and usage.

Experience and example water engagements