WSP06216

• File Number: 8407.500
• Description: Platte River Basin - River Basin General Publications - Missouri River
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 5/1/1980
• Author: MRBC
• Title: Missouri River Basin Water Resources Management Plan - Part I - Chapters I-VI
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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which gives the overlying landowner the absolute ownership of water percolating
beneath the surface of his lands. Second, is the "American rule", which gives
the overlying landowner the right to a "reasonable use" of such water. Third,
is the "California rule", which gives the overlying landowner a correlative
right to the use of the ground water underlying his land, but which requires
him in times of shortage to share the resource with neighbors whose lands also
overlie the water resource.
The States of Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri apply the rules of reasonable
use to ground water; Iowa and Minnesota require permits. The States of
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and wyoming treat ground water

use similarly to surface water appropriation. Other basin States apply minimal

control over landowner use of ground water, but usually require well permits.

Further, the States of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming provide
for designation of controlled ground water areas subject to more stringent
management.

Interstate Compacts, Court Decrees, and International Treaty

Problems often develop in allocating interstate waters and administering
water rights when rivers cross State boundaries and as water use increases. To

deal with these problems in some Missouri River Basin river systems, several

States have entered into interstate compacts or requested court apportionment
of the affected waters. The U.S. Constitution provides that no State may enter
into any agreement or compact with another State or with another Nation without
the consent of Congress.
Figure 2-4 shows areas affected by the interstate compacts, interstate
court decrees, and an international treaty. Interstate compacts control waters

in seven basin States and four subbasins. Compacts on the Colorado River

permit transbasin diversion from the Colorado into the Missouri drainage. TWO