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Show 426 Mississippi Commission is entitled to judicial review.23 Criminal penalties are provided to insure the enforcement of the provisions of the act or any order of the Board.24 As related matters, any person discharging pollution into the waters of the State which causes the death of fish or other wildlife is liable for the amount of money necessary to restock the waters or replenish the wildlife; and any person who operates a facility which accidentally causes the pollution of the waters of the State is liable for the cost of any remedial of clean-up action.25 B. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WATER AGENCIES Private nonprofit water companies, organized for the sole purpose of distributing water to shareholders, may be organized, and they are expressly excluded from regulation by the Public Service Commis- sion.26 However, any water company organized to sell water to the public is subject to regulation as a public utility,27 and any refusal to supply service will be governed by the rules applicable to other utilities.28 Public water agencies include drainage districts and water manage- ment districts which may be organized to promote soil and waiter con- servation and to strengthen flood control and drainage programs in cooperation with the Federal Government and landowners.29 Flood control districts may be established to cooperate with the Federal Government in the construction of flood control improvements.30 Master Water Management Districts are also authorized, and they are to cooperate with and participate in programs of the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture.31 Special districts for water management may be organized to assist municipalities in acquiring adequate water supplies, and the major districts so far established include the Pat Harrison Waterway District, the Big Black Eiver Basin District, the Pearl River Basin Development District, the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, and the Tombigbee River Valley Water Man- agement District.32 3. Surface Waters 3.1 Method of Acquiring Rights A. ACQUISITION" OF RIPARIAN RIGHTS Although Mississippi has adopted a permit system for the acquisi- tion of water rights, it has also protected those riparian rights which were in existence at the time the Water Resources Act was adopted.33 A riparian right arises as an incident of the ownership of land abut- 2s Sec. 7106-128. 2* Sec. 7106-127. 2SId. 28 Sec. 7716-04. » Sec. 7716-01,(4). Note 40 Miss. L.J. 425 (1969). 28 Sec. 7716-51 to 7716-59. a> Sec. 4576 to 4826.01. 30 Sec. 4769 to 4826.01. 31 Sec. 5956-101. 32 See Warwick v. Pearl River Valley Supply Diat., 246 So. 2d 525 (Miss. 1971) (landowner's right to an easement of necessity across district's land). 33 Sec. 5956-04. |
