Water attorneys and water consultants provide assistance in completing water right applications. The Division of Water Resources must make a recommendation to the Court. Water Ditches and Easements When purchasing land with existing ditches, the water right owner has the right and duty to use and maintain their ditch across your property. Adequate headgates on diversion structures and measuring devices are required to allow flows from the stream system to be controlled efficiently. Water right owners are required to keep their ditches in good repair to prevent unnecessary flooding and the wasting of water.
Owners also have a duty to divert only the amount of water needed for the decreed uses.
A jurisdictional dam is one that is greater than 10 feet in height to the spillway, or impounds a reservoir with a surface area more than 20 acres at high water line. Most of the dams that are envisioned for fishpond purposes are of non-jurisdictional size. A non-jurisdictional dam is one that is smaller in size than a jurisdictional dam. Typical requirements for the approval of this type of dam include that the dam be built to the minimum specifications and that a gated outlet capable of draining the reservoir and passing normal tributary inflows from the stream be installed. An example of a non-jurisdictional dam is an erosion control dam.