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Show SURFACE WATERS 37 currents; and that they may enjoy access from riparian land to the watercourse for boating, and may use the watercourse for fishing and other recreational purposes. Most riparian States do not declare any preference as to the type of water use. The evolution of the natural flow doctrine into the present reasonable use concept has evolved certain general prefer- ences in that natural uses are preferred over nonnatural uses. Nat- ural uses include household and domestic uses, and these are preferred over milling and power generating purposes. 3.3 Changes, Sales, and Transfers a. Changes Riparian water rights can be sold and transferred, and riparian water uses can be modified or changed from time to time, so long as any use being made of the water is reasonable under all of the facts and circumstances. Appropriation water rights may also be sold and transferred, either with the sale of the land upon which the water is used, or sep- arately. If the purchaser continues the same use at the same place of use, there is no problem beyond registering or filing a record of the transaction. If there is to be a change, either in the point of diver- sion, place of use, or in the manner or purpose of use, then there is always a risk that such change might adversely affect other water rights from the same source of supply. For this reason change ap- plications must be filed, whether the person seeking the change is a new purchaser of the right or the same owner who simply desires to change his use. These applications must be reviewed and acted upon by the water rights administrator. While the procedures for review vary from State to State, the basic concern is that the water supply not be di- minished more by the changed use than it was by the prior use, to the detriment of other water users. Since appropriation water rights are always acquired in connec- tion with some specific place of use, whether the place be the land irrigated, the mining property being worked, or the site of an indus- trial facility, it is apparent that a change to a new place of use could alter streamflow patterns. The most common problem is one of return flow. Most water uses are only partially consumptive, so that water diverted for use but not consumed reaches the stream again and be- comes part of the watercourse to satisfy downstream rights. If a change in place of use were to be made so that the new place of use would be outside of the watershed, so that the prior return flow no longer would reach the stream, the change cannot be approved, un- less the water right for the new place of use is reduced by an amount appropriate to account for the return flow under the prior use. In other words, if 40 percent of the water diverted returned to the stream under the prior use, then the water right must be reduced by 40 percent if the new place of use will not yield any return flow to the stream. A further problem arises with respect to the pattern of return flow. This situation occurs most commonly in irrigation use, where the |
