OCR Text |
Show SURFACE WATERS' 29 State agency, and are issued only if existing riparian uses and other permit uses will not be adversely affected, and if water quality and other instream values will not be impaired. The specific provi- sions and procedures of any particular permit system will be found in the individual digest for that State. (3) STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION Statutes in many Eastern States authorize creation of large, mul- tipurpose water conservation and supply districts, with authority to supply municipal and industrial water and to provide for recrea- tional, wildlife, and environmental values. These districts are often complex in structure and have broad powers, including taxing power, but the pertinent observation here is that by direct statutory authority they are empowered to develop water from river basins and large stream systems. Frequently the legislation declares that riparian rights are not to be impaired, or that the entity must adjust for or compensate if such impairment occurs, but the significant fact is that the public entity enjoys a statutory right to divert water from watercourses and in turn to market it within (and sometimes be- yond) its boundaries. e. Appropriation Rights The essence of the appropriation system is that all water is avail- able for use by anyone who can apply it to beneficial purposes. The first person to initiate a use has the first or prior right over all sub- sequent users. The early water uses in the Western States actually began before there were any legal doctrines relating to such use. The early miners and farmers who settled the area simply diverted and used water as their needs required, and when there were conflicts be- tween users the local areas developed informal rules and regulations to resolve the conflicts. These local rules were surprisingly uniform from area to area and from State to State, and those rules embodied the essence of the appropriation system as it was later articulated by statutes and judicial decisions. Most Western States, either by constitutional or statutory declaration, provided that all waters be- longed to the public and were to be used for beneficial purposes which served the public interest. The method of acquiring appropriation rights differs to some de- gree from State to State. In the beginning, no more was required to initiate a right than an intent to appropriate and the act of physically diverting the water for some beneficial purpose. When the diversion was completed and the water was applied to use, the water right was completed or perfected, but the date of priority related back to the date when the first act was done to commence the use. Thus, if a farmer intended to cultivate 200 acres, and he pursued that program with reasonable diligence until the full 200 acres were brought under cultivation, then the priority of his water right for the full 200 acres would date back to his first act to begin bringing the land under irrigation-even though it might have taken him 20 years to complete his initial plan. Thus, by virtue of the doctrine of |