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<br /> <br />I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF FEDERAL AND STATE WATER <br /> <br />MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY <br /> <br />From the Nation's beginning, the allocation and development of water <br /> <br />resources has been a matter predominately within the authority of the states, subject <br /> <br />to the power of the federal government to regulate navigation and commerce r <br /> <br />navigable waters under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. <br /> <br />Almost 160 years ago the Supreme Court declared that the states "hold the afOlute <br /> <br />right to all their navigable waters, and the soils under them for their own com on <br /> <br />use, subject only to the rights. . . surrendered by the Constitution to the gene al <br /> <br />government,"1/ and has never altered that fundamental principle.z/ <br /> <br />When the United States acquired the vast land areas which subsequen ly <br /> <br />became 37 new states, it became sovereign "owner" of those lands. As to the wJters <br /> <br />on those lands, the Supreme Court treated the United States' interest in them lhe <br /> <br />same as that recognized in private landowners bordering a stream under the [ <br /> <br />common law of England and later the 13 colonies and early states, i.e., the own r of <br /> <br />riparian lands was entitled to the "reasonable use" of its "natural flow." Thus, . <br /> <br />1899 the Court recognized that "in the absence of specific authority from Cong ess a <br /> <br />state cannot by its legislation destroy the right of the United States, as the own r of <br /> <br />1/ Martin v. Waddell's Lessee, 16 Pet. 367,410 (1842). <br />2/ See, e.g., Idaho v. Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Idaho, 521 U.S. 261, 283-86 (1997). <br /> <br />1 <br />