“Riparian right [aka river water right] entitles the landowner to use a correlative share of the water flowing past his or her property. Riparian rights do not require permits, licenses, or government approval, but they apply only to the water which would naturally flow in the stream.” Maven Water Rights 101
- “User cannot store riparian water for later use, for example storage in a reservoir for use during drought.
- Cannot be exported for use on land outside of the watershed.
- Riparian rights remain with and runs with the land when it is transferred.
- Lose riparian right if land severed from the adjacent water source, generally.”
- “Only the natural flow of the water can be diverted or used
- A riparian right is senior to most other surface water rights
- The right cannot be gained by use or lost through non-use
- The water can only be used by the riparian land
- No riparian user has priority over another on the same water course”- available source of water is a shared use
“Riparian rights are correlative to one another, which means that they all have the same priority, regardless of the patent date of the land; they are all basically on equal footing. When there isn’t enough natural supply to satisfy all the riparian right holders, they are all supposed to cut back, but there isn’t a set procedure for how that happens.”
“Riparian rights only extend to natural flows; they don’t extend to ‘foreign water’. Water can be considered foreign if-
- it’s been imported into the watershed from a different watershed.
- It can also be foreign in time, such as releases from upstream storage. Any time water that would not under natural conditions be present is considered foreign water and riparian rights don’t attach to that.”
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