water law water is plentiful in the eastern states and sparse in the western states not only is there less water in the west but rain and snow are not consistent instead they are highly variable thus the legal doctrines that were developed in the East accounted for plentiful water and the legal doctrines that developed in the west accounted for sparse water variations of these doctrines and sometimes hybrid doctrines were developed in some midwest states where water abundance was somewhere in between being plentiful and sparse while there have been several different water law doctrines one particular do stands out the most it is the reasonable use Doctrine also known as the American rule almost all states have adopted the reasonable use Doctrine or have gravitated to some close variation of the reasonable use Doctrine in other words where the reasonable use Doctrine has not been adopted the law has been modified or added to by the courts and now closely resembles the reasonable use Doctrine water law has to do with bodies of water which are big enough to create a legal or physical conflict thus the water at issue is usually a river stream Lake groundwater Etc these sources of water can organized into three types water courses which can be a river stream and Lake groundwater which is non-flowing water below the ground and surface water which is water that collects on top of the ground for example rain water or snow note while water law is created by Statute and case law it may also be created by contract I.E when someone transfers his water rights to someone else water courses are governed by two major doctrines this is because as we mentioned earlier water is plentiful in the eastern part of the country and sparse in the west not not only is there less water in the west but rain and snow are not consistent instead they are highly variable where water courses are plentiful the law developed so that water rights came with the land and so that the water rights were equal among the owners whose land touched the water course where water courses were sparse the law developed into a senority system where priority was determined by whoever first put the water to beneficial use which meant that it wasn't a requirement to own land along the water course these two doctrines are the raran doctrine and the prior appropriation Doctrine here are the details of each under the reparan doctrine an owner of land along a water course is called a reparan each reparan owner has an equal right to use the water course further every state which follows the reparan doctrine has extended this right by adding the principle of the reasonable use Doctrine which is that each owner may make any reasonable use of the water course as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with other owners therefore the repairing Doctrine is now defined as the following repairing owners have equal rights to reasonably use the water course as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with other repairing owners this right cannot be lost even if the repairing owner does not actually use his right however the right is limited to use and not ownership in other words a reparan does not own the water course or the water itself instead a reparan has the right to use the water note natural use of the water supersedes unnatural use for example if there is a dispute between two reparan owners the water rights of the reparan owner who is using the water for his land are superior to a reparan owner who is using The Water Somewhere off of his land under the prior appropriation Doctrine water rights are on a senority system this system is often described as having a first come first serveed basis the order of seniority is determined on when the water coures put to beneficial use thus the first person to put the water to some beneficial use has the first right to use the water as you might imagine it is almost always the local government who holds the most senior water right a consequence of this system is that a junior water right holder is limited to the water available after the use of a senior water right holder in this system water rights could be held by anyone and not just a reparan I.E someone whose land touches the water course and unlike the reparan who does not have to renew his water rights under the prior appropriation Doctrine an owner of water rights must continually make use of his water rights groundwater is non-flowing water which is below the surface of the ground note if the water is Flowing then it is not considered groundwater and is instead considered a water course and it is subject to the applicable water course laws the majority of States follow some form of the reasonable use Doctrine where each property owner May reasonably use the groundw below his property as long as the use does not unreasonably interfere with neighboring Property Owners surface water is water that collects on top of the ground in places that are not water courses it is typically the result of drainage from rain or melting snow conflicts regarding ownership of surface water are rare because the law is simple the owner of the land upon which the water sits is the owner of the water however conflicts arise when an owner diverts or drains his surface water onto his neighbor's land these conflicts are resolved by three very different doctrines and the states are split on which doctrine that they follow at the strictest end of the spectrum is the natural flow Doctrine which states that an owner may not divert the natural flow of water at all at the other end of the spectrum an owner may take any action to divert the water even if it is harmful to other owners the reasoning being that if surface water is harmful then it is considered harmful to all owners and so it is a common enemy to all owners thus the doctrine is called common enemy Doctrine as you probably guessed there's a Doctrine Which is less extreme and more reasonable than the natural flow Doctrine and the common enemy Doctrine it is the reasonable use Doctrine which we have already covered in the water course and groundwater sections above under the reasonable use Doctrine an owner May reasonably divert water as long as it does not cause an unreasonable interference note some interference is allowed as long as it is not unreasonable interference therefore even when an owner obeys the reasonable use Doctrine it is still possible to cause harm to others in order to ensure our understanding of water law let's review some of the major points it is important to remember that the dominant Doctrine which extends across all water law is the reasonable use Doctrine which is a water right owner May reasonably use the water as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with the use of other water right owners water cosses are governed by the repairing Doctrine the prior appropriation Doctrine or the combination of the two remember that today the repairing Doctrine incorporates the reasonable use Doctrine a reparan is an owner of land which is next to a water course reparan owners have equal rights to reasonably use the water course as long as it does not unreasonably interfere with other reparan owners this right cannot be lost even if the reparan does not exercise use of the right a natural use of the water course supersedes unnatural use the prior appropriation Doctrine is a seniority system the senority of each water rights holder is determined on when the water course is put to beneficial use in this system water rights can be held by anyone and not just a reparan and unlike the reparan who does not have to renew his water rights under the prior appropriation Doctrine an owner of water rights must continually make use of his water rights groundwater is non-flowing water which is below the surface of the ground the majority of States follow some form of the reasonable use Doctrine where each property owner May reasonably use the groundw below his property as long as the use does not unreasonably interfere with neighboring Property Owners surface water has to do with draining water which is collected on top of the ground in places that are not water courses under the natural flow Doctrine an owner may not divert the natural flow of water at all under the common enemy Doctrine an owner may take any action to divert Sur water even if it is harmful to other owners and under the reasonable use Doctrine an owner May reasonably divert water as long as it does not cause an unreasonable interference