Water Rights and Regulation in the Eastern Statesa

Abstract

AbstractThere are numerous ramifications to consider in discussing water rights and laws. In this discussion meaningful impressions concerning water rights and related laws in the 31 States lying east of Texas and the Dakotas are presented. Research is still in progress and a number of the statements are necessarily tentative.cAlthough legislation of various types has been enacted, court‐made rules still provide the primary basis for the water rights laws of most eastern States. This means rules developed by the reported decisions of the State appellate courts. In Louisiana, however, unlike the common‐law States, the Civil Code provides the primary basis for its laws (see Borton, Mark E. and Ellis, Harold H., “Some Legal Aspects of Water Use in Louisiana,” La. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bul. 537, June, 1960). Bear in mind that these general rules often vary from State to State and that they may be modified by voluntary contractual arrangements, the exercise of eminent domain, prescriptive rights, legislation, and various other complicating factors. Furthermore, the laws of most States are unsettled regarding a number of questions, and several court decisions are of elderly vintage and hence might be modified under current conditions.Water supplies, natural or developed, all may be more or less interrelated. But rights to use them may vary according to their particular designation as classified by the courts for various purposes. Some common classifications of natural water supplies include natural watercourses, diffused surface water, percolating ground water, and underground streams.