Natural Resources Conservation Laws
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Chapter 4: Ground Water Laws
State ground water laws
or many years, state ground water rights law in both Eastern and Western
States has been primarily concerned with settling property disputes and
resolving well interference conflicts. In settling disputes, the Eastern and
Midwestern States have consistently followed one of two common law doctrines:
reasonable use and absolute ownership. The reasonable use doctrine has only a few
restrictions because although the landowner may remove the ground water, he or
she must remove and use it in a reasonable manner. The absolute ownership
doctrine places no restriction on the landowner's right. The landowner can remove
as much ground water as he or she can.
Unlike the Eastern and Midwestern States, the Western States adhere to the
doctrine of prior appropriation, which is also known as the first in time, first in
right doctrine. This doctrine considers water to be property of the state. In these
states, water is allocated by various priority systems, subject to the state's definition
of a beneficial use. Ground water rights may be acquired by obtaining a state
appropriation permit. Disputes between ground water appropriators are resolved by
requiring the junior appropriator to stop withdrawals when they interfere with those
of senior appropriators. However, in many of these states, state engineers will
refuse to issue a permit if the proposed appropriation will cause ground water levels
to fall beyond the economic reach of senior appropriators because senior
appropriators are entitled to a reasonable pumping depth.
Recently, some states have enacted legislation authorizing special ground water
regulations in designated critical areas. These regulations aim at the situations of
ground water mining (or ground water overdraft) and saline water pollution.
Ground water mining is usually caused when ground water withdrawals from the
aquifer exceed net recharge. The increase in ground water use for irrigation has led
to ground water mi