riparian rights

riparian rights

Rights pertaining to the use of water in, on, near, or flowing over land.The most common rights are the right to a reasonable use of the water,the right to use the shoreline and have access to the water,the right to any land formed by accretion or relication,the right to have the water flow to the land without obstruction, the limited right to build piers in the water, and the right to catch fish, although the land owner does not own the fish. Although the word “riparian” typically applies to rivers and streams but not lakes, the expression “riparian rights”generally means to imply any rights having to do with water,including surface runoff.