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Show PENNSYLVANIA 647 use waters on the land sold because it was a part of a larger riparian tract.70 The right to take all the waters of a stream may be obtained by grant or purchase, by condemnation, or by prescription.71 Public water and power supply agencies may acquire such rights after obtaining appropriate permits from the department of environmental resources, as discussed in section 2.3. a, above. Such a water supply permit allows the permittee to invoke the statutory grant of the power of eminent domain to acquire the water needed for the use approved by the permit. 3.4 Loss of Rights Riparian water rights are not lost by nonuse or abandonment, but they may be limited or lost by an adverse use by another for the prescriptive period.72 In Pennsylvania, an uninterrupted adverse use of the water for 21 years is required in order to acquire a prescriptive right.73 The general rule is that a prescriptive right, unlike a riparian right, may be lost by abandonment. 3.5 Storage Waters, Artificial Lakes, and Ponds As mentioned in section 3.2, supra, a riparian owner has the right to build a dam and reasonably detain the waters of a stream for a proper purpose, but is not allowed to flood or otherwise injure the property of another. However, there are statutes controlling the obstruction of a watercourse, and it is necessary to acquire a permit from the department of environmental resources in order to build or alter a dam or other obstruction, or to change or diminish the course, current, or cross section of any stream or body of water in the State.74 Exempted from the statute are (1) obstructions on "private" streams having a drainage area of less than one-half square mile that cannot in any way imperil life or property and (2) necessary temporary repairs of obstructions.75 The department of environmental resources is responsible for in- specting dams and water obstructions to assure their safety. If the department finds any unsafe condition, it is to require the owner to correct the situation. If the owner fails to take the required corrective action, the department may make the needed alterations and repairs and recover all costs incurred from the owner,76 and the owner may further be assessed a penalty for failure to follow the order of the Department.77 3.6 Springs If the waters of a spring flow in a definite channel, they create and become a watercourse, even if they do not flow constantly.78 If ™ Lackawanna Mills v. Scranton G. & W. Co., 300 Pa. 303 (1930). n Palmer Water Go. v. Lehighton Water Supply Co., 280 Pa. 494, 124 Atl. 747 (1924). 72McCalmont v. Whitaher, 3 Rowle 84. 23 Am. Dec. 102 (1881). ™ Palmer Water Co. v. Lehighton Water Supply Co., 280 Pa. 494, 124 Atl. 747 (1924). «32 P.S., sec. 682. re 32 P.S., sec. 689. « 32 P.S., sec. 685. "32 P.S.. sec. 687. ™KMin8M v. Gilboy, 19 Pa. sup. 453 (1902). |
