US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  42
                       IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE -- WATER
                            RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION
                                  CHAPTER 1
                      APPROPRIATION OF WATER -- GENERAL
                                  PROVISIONS
    42-101.  NATURE OF PROPERTY IN WATER. Water being essential to the
industrial prosperity of the state, and all agricultural development
throughout the greater portion of the state depending upon its just
apportionment to, and economical use by, those making a beneficial application
of the same, its control shall be in the state, which, in providing for its
use, shall equally guard all the various interests involved. All the waters of
the state, when flowing in their natural channels, including the waters of all
natural springs and lakes within the boundaries of the state are declared to
be the property of the state, whose duty it shall be to supervise their
appropriation and allotment to those diverting the same therefrom for any
beneficial purpose, and the right to the use of any of the waters of the state
for useful or beneficial purposes is recognized and confirmed; and the right
to the use of any of the public waters which have heretofore been or may
hereafter be allotted or beneficially applied, shall not be considered as
being a property right in itself, but such right shall become the complement
of, or one of the appurtenances of, the land or other thing to which, through
necessity, said water is being applied; and the right to continue the use of
any such water shall never be denied or prevented from any other cause than
the failure on the part of the user thereof to pay the ordinary charges or
assessments which may be made to cover the expenses for the delivery of such
water.