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Show ARKANSAS 121 (5) conduct investigations, hold hearings, and issue orders to enforce its powers and duties.19 Any person adversely affected by any order or regulation of the commission may seek judicial review thereof. The court is to deter- mine if rulings of the commission are reasonable, but the commis- sion's actions are presumed to be prima facie correct.20 The com- mission is authorized to seek injunctive relief against violations of the act, and criminal penalties are provided.21 The commission may cooperate with any agency of another State or the United States in matters relating to water pollution control. Also, it may accept Federal funds for water pollution control pur- poses. The act provides for a bonding program to raise revenues, and from these revenues the commission is authorized to make grants to political subdivisions for the construction of water pollu- tion control projects. State participation is limited to 25 percent of the total cost of the project.22 Apart from the statutory provisions which have been enacted to control water pollution, the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that a landowner's riparian right extends to quality as well as quantity, subject only to a reasonable use by others. This right has been pro- tected against a pollutor who was discharging waters into a stream and ruining the stream as a fishery.23 The court, in the same action, ruled that the regulatory power of the State extended to protection of the streams of the State from the damaging effects of pollution. In other decisions, the court has announced that the general rule is that one who creates a nuisance such as the pollution of a stream is liable to lower riparian owners for the direct and probable conse- quences of the nuisance.24 Liability for the consequences of polluting a stream extends to municipalities as well as to individuals.25 While domestic use is superior to other uses of water such as for fishing, swimming, recreation, and irrigation,26 the riparian owner's right to have the stream protected, such as protecting a fishery from upstream pollution, has been recognized.27 B. OTHEB AGENCIES AT THE STATE LEVEL These agencies include: (1) The soil and water conservation commission is the principal State agency involved in water administration, and its powers and duties are reviewed in section 2.1. (2) The committee on water well construction is charged with the responsibility of regulating water well drillers and setting stand- ards for the construction, repair, and abandonment of water wells.28 The powers of this committee are reviewed in detail in section 4, dealing with ground water. 19 Ark. Stat. sees. 82-1904, 1906, 1908. 20 Ark. Stat. sec. 82-1906. » Ark. Stat. sec. 82-1909. » Ark. Stat. sees. 82-1907, 1914 to 1914.17. « Meritoether Sand d Gravel Co. v. State, 181 Ark. 216, 26 S.W. 2d 57 (1930). M Smith v. Magnet Cove Barium Corp., 212 Ark. 491, 206 S.W. 2d 442 (1947) ; Ratzlaff v. Franz Foods of Arkansas, 250 Ark. 100$, 468 S.W. 2d 239 (1971). *> City of SpHngdale v. Weathers, 241 Ark 772, 410 S.W. 2d 754 (1967). <* Harris v. Brooks, 235 Ark 436, 283 S.W. 2d 129 (1955). * Meriwether Sand & Gravel Co. v. State, 181 Ark. 216, 26 S.W. 2d 57 (1930). 88 Ark. Stat. sees. 21-2001 to 2020. |