# Do you know your water rights?



## Waterboy (Sep 20, 2011)

Paragraph 1 of our property deed says we own “all water, water rights and ditch rights.” Do we really?

No creeks or rivers cross our land. If they did, however, we would not “own” that water. No one owns the water flowing in a stream, generally considered public water.

I think most people understand that. But what about the water that flows under private property? Who owns that?

Rights in groundwater arose under the common law by adopting the theory that a landowner has absolute right to everything on and above his lands upward to the heavens and everything in and under his lands downward to the center of the earth, according to the USDA’s 1955 Yearbook of Agriculture.

“The theory overlooked an important, fundamental law of nature – the surface water above and the groundwater below the soil surface is usually moving from a higher to a lower position,” the book states.

Landowners own only a qualified right to take possession of and use some of the water under the conditions provided by the riparian or appropriation systems, which is consistent with sound principles of the moving nature of water. 

The common law theory does not recognize that basic principle. 

“The early English jurists who gave us this theory did not foresee the enormous uses of groundwater that would be made by landowners in this century. They did not foresee the need for a public system of regulation when our economy of use of groundwater became complex under conditions of shortage.” 

Even when the yearbook was written, large-scale agricultural irrigation was in its infancy. Few U.S. cities had populations greater than 250,000. 

Yet, farmers in 1955 were hauling water in trucks from cities for their livestock. Some cities were hauling in water from farm ponds. New Yorkers were asked to cut down on baths, so low was the water in reservoirs that served the metropolis. Some city councils were warned that their cities’ growth was limited by the availability of water.

Because water is so important to life, it also became a weapon of war. In ancient times, armies wrecked the wells, dams and canals of their enemies, so that floods, hunger and thirst would fight on their side. 

About 10 years ago, I’d read that the next world war would not be fought over gold or oil, but over water. I suppose I did not give it as much thought then as I have now. Also, when it once seemed absurd that our government could put meters on rural wells, ban new well drilling or force rural landowners to connect to community wells, it now seems entirely possible, if not probable.

We may have taken our water rights for granted. Have your water rights changed?


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## SierraM37 (Nov 2, 2008)

Good points. They have been attempting to put meters on our wells here in NorCal for a few years now. Hasn't worked yet but they are persistent buggers.


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

There is a guy in Oregon that is serving 30 days in jail for collecting rain water and snow melt on his property.
The state says it is their water and he was arrested and convicted.

http://www.infowars.com/man-jailed-for-collecting-rainwater-begins-sentence/


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## Jimmy24 (Apr 20, 2011)

So far so good for us here in MS. Groundwater to 35 ft is the land owners as this is normally replaced by the rain from the property. On aquifers it's yours to use as you need. My well is in the 300 ft range and in the TN aquifer that flows south from TN. Water flowing across your land, that is not a named creek, river etc is considered yours for whatever use you see fit. Most is for fish ponds, livestock or garden. You can control who steps on your property if a named creek or river flows next to or through your property, but you cannot stop them from floating on it, through your property.

If you plan on a pond/lake 5 acres or more then the county has to know and say ok.

Course we don't have the water issues here as other states do out west.

Jimmy


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Lots of hits come up in a search:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...lympic-sized-swimming-pools-article-1.1137991

Notter said that during the trial, jurors were not allowed to hear Harrington's evidence because the judge said it "may prejudice the jury."

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/man-sentenced-30-days-catching-rain-water-own-property-enters-jail

"I'm sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty," Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail.


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

God bless 'im. If only there were more people willing to put their beliefs on the line like that. :congrat:


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## Well_Driller (Jun 3, 2012)

We are pulling a lot of water out of the ground than we used to. In doing service work on these old wells around here i've concluded some of the water tables are dropping at a rate of about 1 foot per year and it never returns to that level. I've also seen irrigation wells pumping millions of gallons per week on a continuous basis out of very good aquifers and actually causing it to lower to the point that it's drying up other landowners wells that live in the surrounding area, but they are powerless and nobody can do anything about it. All they can do is drill their wells deeper.....


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