Wednesday, Mar 14, 2018 at 14:19
Unfortunately for Genny, he/she needs to be educated into understanding that "water and river rights" are a very developed concept all through the developed world.
During the development of America, there were actual small-scale wars between property owners fighting over available water in creeks and rivers.
As a result, highly-developed water laws were embedded into American laws - and we also have water laws along much of the framework of English Common Law ...
"... At common law, any rights to water must be claimed, based on a claim against the land over which water flows or rests.
A downstream landowner can bring an action against an upstream owner for excessively diminishing the quantity and quality of water arriving at a downstream location."
I'm not familiar with all the Eastern States laws - but in general, in Australia, depriving downstream landowners of water by excessive damming and diversion of water, is an offence against many water use, and water rights, acts of legislation.
There are innumerable acts of legislation in Australia specifying exactly who can take water from where, and how much of that water they can have.
Even in the remotest parts of the interior of W.A., water of any type (surface or underground, and fresh or salt) can still be tightly controlled and allocated by the Govt.
I found out many many years ago, when re-treating gold tailings in the W.A. goldfields, that there were far-reaching State water laws, that stopped me from even drawing salt and brackish water from abandoned mineshafts, without applying for a licence, and obtaining Govt approval to do so.
There's a major distinction between water that is falling from the sky, and water that is actually on the ground.
Once water is on the ground, it is a claimable resource.
To try and make landowners responsible for flooding caused by excessive rainfall is not a principle that would stand for 5 seconds, under any kind of legal scrutiny - unless the flooding is caused by the landowners water-harvesting works or damming, on his land.
In general, water harvesting and damming are generally works that lead to reduced amounts of flooding, downstream.
The responsibilities of landowners carrying out damming, is that the works must meet proper engineering standards, to reduce the risk of losses caused by dams bursting under flood conditions.
However, upstream from any water harvesting works or damming, the landowners responsible for the water harvesting or damming, must also be held accountable for any losses caused to upstream landowners, in the event of flooding caused by that harvesting or damming.
Accordingly, water harvesting and damming plans are fairly tightly controlled, and water and other authorities generally have a great deal of control over these types of works.
It's when carefully-crafted water laws are disobeyed by people with no respect for water laws, that disagreements and anger ensue.
Cheers, Ron.
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