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Show Chapter 33. NORTH CAROLINA CONTENTS Page 1. Development of North Carolina Water Law_____________________ 565 2. State Organizational Structure for Water Administration and Control.. 566 2.1 Administration of Water Rights_______________________ 566 2.2 Resolution of Water Use Conflicts_____________________ 566 2.3 Other Agencies Having Water Resource Responsibilities____ 566 3. Surface Waters____________________________________________ 568 3.1 Method of Acquiring Rights__________________________ 568 3.2 Nature and Limit of Rights__________________________ 568 3.3 Changes, Sales, and Transfers________________________ 574 3.4 Loss of Rights____________________________________ 574 3.5 Storage Waters, Artificial Lakes, and Ponds_____________ 575 3.6 Springs__________________________________________ 575 3.7 Diffused Surface Waters_____________________________ 576 4. Ground Water____________________________________________ 577 Publications Available________________________________________ 577 DISCUSSION 1. Development op North Carolina Water Law Although North Carolina must be classified as a "riparian" juris- diction, so far as water rights are concerned, a limited permit sys- tem for appropriating water for the purpose of irrigation was passed by the North Carolina Legislature in 1951.1 The director of the de- partment of conservation and development was authorized to issue a permit after investigating each proposal from the standpoint of safety and public interest. Although rules and regulations for the administration of the system apparently were never issued, what permits were issued were for indefinite periods and were always subject to reevaluation in the event other applications were made for the same water. The plan thus offered little security to a permittee. Existing riparian rights were not expressly protected although the department seems to have informally established such a policy. There was some indication that because of insufficient funds for investigative work, the department was often inclined to issue permits in excess of stream capacity. Some writers lamented the fact that an effective water use program was perhaps irretrievably lost when the act was repealed in 1961.2 Not so, however, for in 1967 a much more com- prehensive water use act was adopted.3 1N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 113-8.1 (1952). The act Is discussed in H. Ellis, Some Current and Proposed Water-Bights Legislation in the Eastern States, 41 Iowa L. Rev. 236, 241-42 (1956). 8 S. Plager and F. Maloney, Emerging Patterns for Regulation of Consumptive Use of Water in the Eastern United States, 43 Ind. L.J. 382, 404-05 (1968). *3C N.C. Gen Stat. sees. 143-215.11 to 143-215.22 (1971 Supp.). This act will here- after be cited simply by section numbers. The new act, along with the companion stat- utes, was ably discussed by Prof. William B. Aycock in Introduction to Water Use Law in North Carolina, 46 N.C. L. Rev. 1 (1967). An extensive listing of local publications appear in the unnumbered footnote on p. 1. 565 |
