11-25-2012, 07:06 AM
Sinergy, and Riverdog, I have yet to talk at all about water rights in my posts above in this thread.
Water rights and access are two completely different subjects.
Yet water rights are a form of private property as well.
There are 2 basic forms of water rights. Surface and Ground.
There are sub categories of surface rights, Primary, Secondary, and so on. Many surface rights have time limits as to when they can be used. Example, from May to Oct., the growing season.
Example, a primary rights owner gets first shot at any water coming down a river. In a wet year a secondary rights holder can use any extra water and so on.
Water rights are typically known as shares. Shares are bought and sold on the open market just like real estate. And like real estate there is only a set amount available.
Each share is designated for a certain purpose, like irrigation, industrial, livestock,
residential, and so on.
When a share trades hands the new owner has to hire a licensed water engineer to come and prepare a report to be sent to the State that shows that the water is being used as intended.
This process has to be redone every so often even if the shares have not changed hands.
There are fees that have to be paid by the share holder to the state every time this is done. Plus what ever the engineer charges.
You can not own shares and not use them. If shares don't get used for the intended purpose they go back to the state where they are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
As far as a corporation coming in and taking all the water from a certain river or stream, that is perfectly okay. As long as they use the system laid out above.
As a matter of fact privately owned share holders quickly divert most water shed sources in the Rocky Mountains from there stream bed. Starting in May and continuing thru Oct.
I only go into so much detail because a lot of people confuse water rights with the right to trespass where water flows.
Sorry to the OP, I know this has little to do with your own trespass problems.
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Water rights and access are two completely different subjects.
Yet water rights are a form of private property as well.
There are 2 basic forms of water rights. Surface and Ground.
There are sub categories of surface rights, Primary, Secondary, and so on. Many surface rights have time limits as to when they can be used. Example, from May to Oct., the growing season.
Example, a primary rights owner gets first shot at any water coming down a river. In a wet year a secondary rights holder can use any extra water and so on.
Water rights are typically known as shares. Shares are bought and sold on the open market just like real estate. And like real estate there is only a set amount available.
Each share is designated for a certain purpose, like irrigation, industrial, livestock,
residential, and so on.
When a share trades hands the new owner has to hire a licensed water engineer to come and prepare a report to be sent to the State that shows that the water is being used as intended.
This process has to be redone every so often even if the shares have not changed hands.
There are fees that have to be paid by the share holder to the state every time this is done. Plus what ever the engineer charges.
You can not own shares and not use them. If shares don't get used for the intended purpose they go back to the state where they are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
As far as a corporation coming in and taking all the water from a certain river or stream, that is perfectly okay. As long as they use the system laid out above.
As a matter of fact privately owned share holders quickly divert most water shed sources in the Rocky Mountains from there stream bed. Starting in May and continuing thru Oct.
I only go into so much detail because a lot of people confuse water rights with the right to trespass where water flows.
Sorry to the OP, I know this has little to do with your own trespass problems.
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