ABSTRACT
The riparian system of water law is that which was inherited by the United States (US) from England. The basic principles of riparian law are that any land owner whose property abuts a body of water has the right to make any reasonable use of the water. The other major system of water law in the US is called the appropriation system. It is a US development and owes its origins to the unsuitability of riparian law to the conditions found by settlers when they got west of the hundredth meridian. The most recent development in US water law is that of hybrid water law systems. Under a hybrid system a water user needs to get a permit, but all permits of equal date are treated equally, and all users of water on the date the system is instituted are granted permits for the total amount of water they are currently using.
