| OCR Text |
Show 610 OKLAHOMA (1) Standing and flowing water, not forming a definite stream, continue to be owned by the landowner. In most States, these would be called diffused surface waters. They may be used without a permit and may be dammed and stored in the bed of a definite stream. (2) Ground water is, for the most part, governed by a separate act, the Oklahoma ground water law, discussed in some detail in section 4 of this chapter. (3) The act purports to cut down drastically the rights of riparian owners on natural streams. After 1963, a riparian does not necessarily have a right to make a reasonable use of the flow of a stream. In- stead, his right is limited to use for domestic purposes. Riparian uses after 1963 above the amounts necessary for domestic purposes must qualify as appropriation rights, and beneficial use is the basis, the measure, and the limit of the right to use water. Domestic purposes are defined to include the use of water for household purposes, for farm and domestic animals up to the normal grazing capacity of the land, and for irrigation of gardens, orchards, and lawns not exceeding three acres. For these purposes, a 2-year supply may be stored.57 Riparians may not pollute streams or pursue the water after it leaves their lands, for it then becomes subject to appropriation. The interrelationship of this provision and the ground water law is uncertain. Actual riparian uses prior to 1963 are protected under a system of priorities established in the act. But unused riparian claims are eliminated, and prior riparian uses are subject to forfeiture for nonuse.58 Under the new act, a riparian owner is also permitted to take stream water for domestic uses from wells on his premises.59 (4) Water excepted from the appropriation system includes water used for domestic purposes, as defined above, and for farm ponds or gully plugs which had previously been constructed under the super- vision of soil and water conservation districts.60 Apparently the latter exception accounts for a fairly large amount of water on Okla- homa farm lands. (5) After stating that priority in time gives the better right, the amendments also set up a system of priorities for existing uses as of June 10, 1963.61 The priority rules (all of the following are subject to forfeiture for nonuse) include: (a) Water beneficially used prior to statehood if perfected as provided in the new amendment ("determination of vested rights"), and priority dates from the initiation of the beneficial use; (b) priorities stemming from gen- eral adjudications prior to the act, and here the decrees themselves assign the priority date, although there were only four such decrees; (c) priorities based upon applications to appropriate which were perfected according to the law as it existed prior to the act (it will be remembered that the Supreme Court had held that a hydrographic survey and an adjudication were conditions precedent to the per- fection of an appropriation right), and the date of application governs the priority date; (d) priorities based on applications per- 67 Sees. 105.1 and 105.2. 58 Sees. 105.2, 105.17, and 105.18. 68 Sees. 105.2, 1004. and 1020.3. 60 Sec. 105.2. 61 Sec. 105.2. |
