2020 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 8 - Water Rights
§ 44-8-9. Construction of Levees and Ditches; Diversion of Watercourses

Universal Citation: GA Code § 44-8-9 (2020)

All persons owning lands on any watercourses are authorized to ditch and embank their lands in order to protect the lands from freshets and overflows in the watercourses, provided that the ditching and embanking does not divert the watercourse from its ordinary channel; but nothing in this Code section shall be so construed as to prevent the owners of lands from diverting nonnavigable watercourses through their own lands.

(Laws 1793, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 26; Ga. L. 1855-56, p. 12, §§ 1, 2; Code 1863, § 2211; Code 1868, § 2206; Code 1873, § 2232; Code 1882, § 2232; Civil Code 1895, § 3062; Civil Code 1910, § 3638; Code 1933, § 85-1310.)

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 50 Am. Jur. 2d, Levees and Flood Control, § 13 et seq. 78 Am. Jur. 2d, Waters, §§ 11, 26, 85, 220.

C.J.S.

- 93 C.J.S., Waters, §§ 18 et seq., 43 et seq., 297 et seq.

ALR.

- Right to hasten by improvement of street or highway the flow of surface water along natural drainways, 5 A.L.R. 1530; 36 A.L.R. 1463.

Right of owner of upland to make a use, not connected with navigation, of the shore between high and low water mark, which excludes the general public, 10 A.L.R. 1053; 107 A.L.R. 1347.

Liability of one who diverts stream into new channel for overflow, 12 A.L.R. 187.

Right to compensation for damages to land left outside of levee, 20 A.L.R. 302.

Right of riparian owner to embank against flood or overflow water from stream, 22 A.L.R. 956; 53 A.L.R. 1180; 23 A.L.R.2d 750.

Right to drain surface water into natural watercourse, 28 A.L.R. 1262.

What constitutes natural drainway or watercourse for flow of surface water, 81 A.L.R. 262.

Right of riparian owner to continuation of periodic and seasonal overflows from stream, 20 A.L.R.2d 656.

Right of riparian owner to construct dikes, embankments, or other structures necessary to maintain or restore bank of stream or to prevent flood, 23 A.L.R.2d 750.

Modern status of rules governing interference with drainage of surface waters, 93 A.L.R.3d 1193.

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