reserved water rights doctrine

reserved water rights doctrine

Holds that when the United States withdraws land from the public domain and reserves it for a private purpose, it also withdraws all water rights necessary to support the purpose, including the rights to groundwater if other waters are inadequate. This includes Indian lands and lands owned in the Territories before statehood.The U.S.may sell or assign those rights to others. The reservation allows the government (or persons to whom it sells those rights) to prevent upstream owners from taking water, even if otherwise allowed under state law. Assignees of federal reserved water rights enjoy greater protections and privileges than other citizens of the state.Whether or not there was a reservation is a question of federal law and must be determined in federal court.