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Show 532 THE APPROPRIATIVE RIGHT for domestic purposes. The right to the use of the streamflow for the sustenance of the riparian owner and family is inherent in the riparian doctrine in those jurisdictions which recognize such right. Water likewise may be appropriated for domestic purposes in all of the mainland western jurisdictions. But the riparian cases seem to constitute most of the judicial authority as to what this use actually contemplates. Domestic and municipal-{1) The terms are closely related but are not truly synonymous. Domestic use by individuals or small groups in farming communities has both physical and legal connotations quite different from large uses of water by municipalities and their inhabitants. As distinguished from use in municipalities, domestic use in rural areas means primarily the use of water for drinking and other household purposes. Incidentally, in various jurisdictions, it includes water for small gardens and for the family domestic animals, to the specific exclusion of both industrial use in irrigation and watering of commercial herds of stock. On the other hand, appropriation of water for municipal use by public water districts, cities, and public utility corporations contemplates such public uses for the benefit of the citizenry as fire protection, sprinkling of streets, watering of parks, and use in public buildings, as well as personal use of individual citizens in connection with their business establishments as well as their homes and lawns. It follows that although the terms "domestic use" and "municipal use" are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not in every sense synonymous. Use of water for drinking and household use in rural areas conforms to the elemental classification of domestic use. On the other hand, such use within a municipality, while still domestic, is within the overall concept of municipal. This household use is made with water acquired by the city and supplied to its inhabitants without differentiation from other uses for which the city acquires and provides water within its political limits. (2) Some definitions. To clarify well-considered distinctions between domestic and municipal uses of water, attention is called to three sets of definitions of the two uses summarized below. In each group the definitions were prepared for administrative use in control of appropriative water rights; and in each instance the contrasts between domestic and municipal are purposely highlighted for guidance of the administrator.472 472 Compare the meaning of the term "domestic use" as used in an ordinance of the City of Albuquerque fixing rates for the supplying of water, as defined by the New Mexico Supreme Court: "Domestic use, as the term is used in the ordinance fixing the schedule of rates to be charged, means the use to which water is applied by the family, or for family use, and includes all uses to which water is applied around the home, and includes the watering of animals, but it does not include the use of water in public parks or public pleasure resorts maintained by the city, or the temporary quenching of the thirst of animals while engaged in labor upon the streets." Water Supply Co. of Albuquerque v. Albuquerque, 17 N. Mex. 326, 334, 128 Pac. 77 (1912). |
