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Show GROUND WATER 57 ultimately will be exhausted. The administrative difficulties and policy considerations with regard to these questions are equally dif- ficult. These problems are discussed in more detail in section 4.4.b of this chapter. An additional problem sometimes arises when a landowner claims that nature has provided him with both a means of diversion and a beneficial use of water. This situation usually arises when streams overflow during periods of high water and inundate meadows and pastures along the stream, affording an irrigation to such lands, or when springs or other sources of water supply cause water to perco- late near the surface of the ground so as to sustain the growth of plant life. Here, the argument is that there is a natural subirriga- tion, which is beneficial, and which should be protected against water development or land development activities which either capture, impound, or divert the waters which otherwise would have periodi- cally overflowed the lands or which would have sustained a water table high enough to subirrigate the lands. As a general rule, appropriation jurisdictions have denied any legal protection to such natural means of diversion because they have required that water be physically diverted by the affirmative acts of the appropriator as an essential element of perfecting an appropria- tion. In riparian jurisdictions, the elements of appropriation are in- applicable, and the question usually is whether the actions of the one who is interfering with the percolating water are reasonable. The test of reasonableness in such a case is determined by the particular facts of the case in controversy. 4.4 Ground Water Administration a. Administration of Ground Water Bights (1) EXTENT OF REGULATION Some States do not regulate or administer ground water use at all. Others provide for certain informational filings, but do not control withdrawals. Some regulate only those basins that are being over- drawn, usually by authorizing a State officer or agency to declare such basins as critical areas (after a field investigation), and to thus bring them within regulatory controls. A number of appropriation States regulate all ground, water use, without any exemptions or ex- ceptions. Other States which regulate all ground water use, particu- larly in the East, grant several exemptions from regulatory controls, most commonly for domestic use by the landowner for his family and livestock, and for small wells which do not withdraw more water than a maximum set by statute. And some States regulate ground water by authorizing water management districts to exercise regula- tory control over all surface and ground water supplies within the district boundaries. (2) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES The procedures utilized to allocate and administer rights in ground water vary substantially from State to State. There is very little |