WSP12193

• File Number: 8407
• Description: Platte River Basin - River Basin General Publications
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 9/1/1975
• Author: Missouri River Basin
• Title: Draft Report on the Platte River Basin - Nebraska - Level B Study
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

002654 "

Nebraska has ruled that one requirement for vesting of a riparian

right is ownership of part of the streambed. Another Nebraska

limitation is that all excess flow must be returned to the water-

course from which it was withdrawn.

The Appropriation System. In contrast to the riparian doctrine

which says the landowner may use but can never own flows in an

abutting watercourse, prior appropriation is usually defined as a

doctrine whereby a property interest in the use of a definite

quantity of streamflow may be acquired by diverting and applying

it to a beneficial use. Subsequent to the Act of 1895, appropria-

tion is obtained by applying to the Department of Water Resources,

which then decides whether an unappropriated supply does exist and

whether granting the appropriation would be detrimental to the

public welfare. Although the Nebraska Constitution, Article XV,

Section 6, states that the right to divert unappropriated waters

for beneficial use may be denied "when such denial is demanded by

the public interest", the provision is omitted from Nebraska

revised statutes, Section 46-204 which states that, "the right

to divert unappropriated waters of every natural stream for bene-

ficial use shall never be denied". The right once granted is

attached to the lands upon which it is to be used. Prior to the

1895 Act, rights were acquired by the simple act of diverting

water and could be transferred or assigned in the same manner as

any other property.

The Preference System. After, and only after, all the water

in a watercourse has been allocated for use under the water

rights system of the state, constitutional, and legislative

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