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A.'3 Wright-McLaughlin Engineers Page 3 October 27, 1972 "Surface water, it has heen hE!ld, 'is that which is diffused over the surfa.ce of the ground derived from falling rains and melting snows, and continues to be such until it reaches some .rell-defined channel in which it is accustomed to, and does, flow with other waters, whether derived from the surface or springs; and it then becomes t:he running water of a stream and ceases to be surface water.' '1'he distinc- tion between surface watE~r and water flowing in a. channel is important, for the rights and duties of a municipality are often different in the one case from the other. It has also been said that the law regulating the rights wit:h respect: to surface water r is quite a different thing from that governing 1:he disposal of house drainage, 'so far as its discharge is concerned. "Generally speaking, municipal rights and lia- bilities as to surface waters are the same as those of private landowners wit:hin the cit:y. There is no duty to construct sewers to take care of surface water, and it follows that ordinarily the failure to protect citizens from surface wat,er is not action- able. So the owner of a swamp which is the natural place of deposit of the surface waters from the high- er adjoining territory cannot complain because the municipality continues to deposit such wat:ers on such swamp by means of mere storm sewers after such sl"amp has been improved." 18 I1cQuillan on l1unicipal Corporations 525. ---- ,. ' A natural water course is defined as a stream of water flowing through a well-defined bed or channel with sides or banks and a permanent supply of wat:er. It is not necessary that the flow of water be constant; it is sufficient if 1:here is usually a running stream. ~.;il~bs.....::.~,:, Williams, 25 Kan 214, 37 Am ReI" 241.