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Show Chapter 36. OKLAHOMA CONTENTS Page 1. Development of Oklahoma Water Law_________________________ 603 2. State Organizational Structure for Water Administration and Control __ 604 2.1 Administration of Water Rights_______________________ 604 2.2 Resolution of Water Use Conflicts_____________________ 605 2.3 Other Agencies Having Water Resource Responsibilities____ 606 3. Surface Waters____________________________________________ 607 3.1 Method of Acquiring Rights_________________________ 607 3.2 Nature and Limit of Rights__________________________ 607 3.3 Changes, Sales, and Transfers________________________ 612 3.4 Loss of Rights____________________________________ 612 3.5 Storage Waters, Artificial Lakes, and Ponds_____________ 613 3.6 Springs______________________________....._______ 613 3.7 Diffused Surface Waters_____________________________ 613 4. Ground Water____________________________________________ 614 Publications Available________________________________________ 617 DISCUSSION 1. Development of Oklahoma Water Law Oklahoma water law is rather complicated. Both riparian and appropriation water rights have been recognized since before the turn of the century, but the exact legal measure of rights acquired under this dual system has been rather unclear. Professor Joseph F. Rarick of the University of Oklahoma Law School has written ex- tensively on the basic features of water law in Oklahoma, and his articles* will be mentioned frequently in this chapter and should be consulted by those who wish a more detailed analysis and explanation. A territorial statute enacted in 1890 seemed to adopt the natural flow theory of riparian rights and to recognize private ownership of diffused surface water. Seven years later a basic appropriation statute was enacted, and it has been amended and revised a number of times. The most recent revisions took place in 1963 and 1972. Both of these revisions made substantial modifications in the then existing water code. At present, Oklahoma is basically an appropriation State, but riparian rights do exist and conflicts between riparian and appro- priation uses frequently arise. The nature and extent of these con- flicts, and the water law history which prompts them, are discussed in section 3.2, infra, 1J. Earick, Oklahoma Water Law, Stream and Surface in the Pre-1963 Period, 22 Okla. L. Rev. 1 (1969) ; Oklahoma Water Law, Stream and Surface, under the 1968 Amendments, 23 Okla. L. Rev. 19 (1970; Oklahoma Water Law, Stream and Surface, The Water Conservation Storage Commission and the 1965 and 1967 Amendments, 24 Okla. L. Rev. 1 (1971) ; Oklahoma Water Law, Ground or Percolating in the Pre-1971 Period, 24 Okla. L. Rev. 403 (1971). These articles will hereafter be cited as Rarick I, II, III, and IV, respectively. An earlier discussion of the conflict between two water regimes should not be overlooked: J. Rarick, Appropriator v. Riparian, 10 Okla. L. Rev. 416 (1955). Oklahoma water law is also discussed in W. Hutchins, The Oklahoma Law of Water Rights (1960). 603 |
