A Summary-Digest of State Water Laws

UUM_SumDigest_page_101

ALASKA 101 water code only purports to preserve and protect those existing rights where the water was actually placed to beneficial use.107 With respect to unappropriated ground water of the State, the water code applies to all waters, both surface and subsurface.108 In keeping with the modern trend of not attempting to subclassify ground water for purposes of water right administration, the act makes no distinction between ground water flowing in well-defined subterranean channels and ground water percolating through the soil. The procedure for initiating and perfecting a right to ground water is the same as for surface water. While prior rights are protected, the owner of an existing right is not entitled to have the water table or artesian pressure maintained at a specific level for his benefit, but must suffer some reasonable re- duction in pressure to accommodate new uses.109 The department of health and social services may require a well drillers log to be filed along with other information concerning the flow of the well, the aquifer in which the well was drilled, and the general characteristics of the well.110 Publications Available Institution for Water Resource Research: Institute of Water Resources University of Alaska College, Alaska 99701 907-479-7776 Publications Trelease, "Alaska's New Water Use Act," II Land and Water Law Review 1 (1967). ™i Sec. 46.15.060. 108 Sees. 46.15.040 and .260(5). 109 Sec. 46.15.050. «° Sec. 46.05.020.