Laserfiche WebLink
<br />rights of Native Americans. <br /> <br />Both the Bureau and the Corps have traditionally relied on state law for the <br /> <br />acquisition of necessary water rights for their projects, the Bureau pursuant to the <br /> <br />mandate of section 8 of the Reclamation Act and the Corps as a matter of comity. <br /> <br />The Federal Water Power Act also requires a hydro project license applicant to <br /> <br />acquire the water rights necessary for a proposed project under state law. <br /> <br />There are two basic state legal systems governing the acquisition and use of <br /> <br />rights to water in the United States. The first is the riparian system, derived from <br /> <br />the common law of England and applicable in most eastern and central states, which <br /> <br />permits owners of land adjacent to rivers and other water bodies to make reasonable <br /> <br />use of such waters, principally on their riparian lands. The common law rule has <br /> <br />been modified in most states by legislation requiring a permit for the exercise of such <br /> <br />rights. The second system is the appropriation system, which developed as a matter <br /> <br />of necessity in the arid western states. It is not dependent on ownership of riparian <br /> <br />lands, but on the application of water to a reasonable beneficial use, and establishes <br /> <br />priorities based generally on the principle that "first in time is first in right." In <br /> <br />addition to these two basic state law systems, the Supreme Court has developed a <br /> <br />body of federal law applicable to reserved federal and Indian lands in the western <br /> <br />United States (but not yet the East) which can involve substantial quantities of <br /> <br />water. <br /> <br />4 <br />