4 Pa. Code Chapter 119 apply to riparian users within the designated drought emergency area. Water flowing in defined watercourses is treated under riparian doctrine 1 .
Rights arise from ownership of real property underlying or bordering a stream or river.
A riparian right is the right to use water flowing in a stream on riparian land. No right to divert a specific quantity of water is obtained. All rights to water use by a riparian onwer depend upon the equal, correlative rights of other riparians to use of the common resource. A riparian right to use surface water is generally confined to use of water on, and only on, riparian land. Riparian rights may be exercised on contiguous land so long as all of the lands are in the same watershed.