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Show DELAWARE 195 which have some jurisdiction over water-related activities (e.g., drainage); and there are also provisions authorizing municipalities and other entities to furnish water supply. However, for all practical purposes, the only agencies having significant water resource re- sponsibilities are the divisions within the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the department itself, and the Delaware Water and Air Resources Commission, all as dis- cussed in the preceding section of this chapter. 3. Surface Waters 3.1 Method of Acquiring Rights Riparian water rights in Delaware, as elsewhere in riparian juris- dictions, arise by virtue of the ownership of land adjacent to a watercourse or over which it flows.63 These water rights are con- sidered to be a part of the ownership of the land itself, but or- dinarily may be severed or reserved by the grantor in any convey- ance of riparian land, or may be involuntarily severed by the op- eration of the doctrine of prescription, as discussed in section 3.4 below. At present, the status of riparian rights in Delaware is not entirely clear. It does appear that the 1966 act extinguished unused riparian rights, which would include all riparian rights not actually exer- cised through water uses on or before July 1, 1966. The exemptions in that statute are noted above, and aside from those limitations, all water uses, or increases in water use, from and after July 1, 1966 require a permit from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. The permits contemplated by the act are governed generally by section 2.01 of the regulations, set forth above in section 2.1.e, pro- viding in essence that the permits shall be valid for a period of 1 year, and shall then be void if construction is not started to apply the water use (although there is a provision whereby an applica- tion may be made for renewal of permits). The regulations are not clear as to whether the 1-year term applies only to the requirement that construction begin within that period, or whether it applies also to the actual use permits. If the latter is true, then no water use permits would be valid for more than 1 year, and would have to be renewed annually. This would seem to create a heavy administrative burden, and would give water users little security in the duration of their authorized water uses. The rather tenuous nature of permit "rights" is further under- scored by the fact that the commission may terminate any water use under a permit which it no longer considers to be "reasonably beneficial." ei Conceivably, this provision might have some applica- tion to existing uses under riparian rights pre-dating the 1966 act, because regulation 2.05 provides that water uses which pre-dated adoption of the regulation shall be "protected and regulated in the same manner as any new applicant." If this is to be construed as placing water uses under riparian rights on precisely the same basis «3 Delaney v. Boston, 2 Del. (2 Harr.) 489 (1839). M Reg. 201.d. 499-242-73------14 |