Title: Lingo v. City of Jacksonville
Citation: 522 S.W.2d 403
Docket Number: 75-9
State: Arkansas
Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court
Date: May 5, 1975

522 S.W.2d 403 (1975) Sam LINGO et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, Appellee. No. 75-9. Supreme Court of Arkansas. May 5, 1975. *404 Chas. A. Walls, Jr., Lonoke, for appellants. Ben E. Rice, Jacksonville, for appellee. HOLT, Justice. This case involves a dispute concerning subterranean water rights. Appellee, the City of Jacksonville which is located in Pulaski County, purchased several small parcels of land in Lonoke County. Appellee then constructed five water wells on its land. The water is pumped approximately five miles to the city to supplement its water supply for sale to its customers. Appellants are homeowners, fish and rice farmers and a manufacturer in the area of appellee's well field and also within the same watershed. They depend upon their individual or several wells for their water supply. Appellants petitioned the chancellor to enjoin appellee from pumping water, asserting its removal would deplete the quantity and quality of the existing supply. Appellants further alleged that appellee, as a public entity, should compensate the landowners for the water removed. The chancellor's order enjoined the appellee from "pumping more than 650 gallons per minute from any of the five individual water wells owned by said city, in excess of eight hours during any twenty-four hour period." The order provided for masters to monitor the water level of the wells and report to the court at least on monthly intervals for six months or such other intervals as the court might direct. The court retained jurisdiction "until further orders of this court." From this order comes this appeal. Appellants contend for reversal that the chancellor erred in not enjoining appellee from removing water from under its land, as a riparian owner, to a distant point for sale. Appellants argue that the owner of riparian rights, under the reasonable use theory, can only use the water on the overlying land in the absence of an eminent domain proceeding and just compensation. We cannot agree. The appellee, as a landowner, is a riparian owner exactly the same as are the appellants. Incidental to that ownership, each is entitled to a reasonable use of their respective subterranean water rights. In Jones v. Oz-Ark-Val Poultry Co., 228 Ark. 76, 306 S.W.2d 111 (1957), we said: In Harris v. Brooks, 225 Ark. 436, 283 S.W.2d 129 (1955), we said: We then quoted with approval: We said further: It is permissible for a riparian owner to remove subterranean and percolating waters and use it away from the lands from which it was pumped if it does not injure the common supply of other riparian owners. Jarvis v. State Land Department, 106 Ariz. 506, 479 P.2d 169 (1970); and Higday v. Nickolaus, Mo. App., 469 S.W.2d 859 (1971). The rationale is that adjacent riparian owners cannot complain if they are not damaged by the removal. In the case at bar, the City of Jacksonville, a riparian owner in the same subterranean watershed, will use the water five miles distant for the consumption of its customers or the public. A study of the impact of appellee's usage of its waterfield upon the existing supply in the area was made by the Arkansas District of the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Arkansas Geological Commission. The study reflected a lowering of the water level in the immediate area of the appellee's wells by six feet at the end of one year if the proposed pumpage of 3,000,000 gallons per day was permitted. The lowering of the level or "cone of depression" at the well site tapered off to zero after a short distance. The study indicates that at this rate of pumpage for an additional ten years the water level would only be reduced by approximately one inch per year. According to appellee's expert witness, the "drawdown" of the water level or "cone of depression" will be six feet at the immediate site of the wells and gradually taper to zero after a short distance. The "drawdown" at each well would stabilize after 621.378 days' usage at levels not exceeding 7.8 feet. The quality of the water should not change. Appellants' expert witness was of the view that the water level in the watershed was declining annually. He estimated that the "drawdown" would vary from 20 to 30 feet and appellee's proposed use would adversely affect appellants' water supply. He personally had made no measurements in water levels in the area and based his opinion upon his general knowledge in the Grand Prairie watershed and a study of federal and state records. Appellants adduced *406 evidence from landowners in the immediate area and from other areas in the watershed. According to their experience, the use of multiple wells in an area diminished and had an adverse effect upon the sufficiency of their water supply. To insure that the appellants are not damaged, the chancellor retained jurisdiction and, as indicated, restricted appellee's use. The concern of the chancellor is demonstrated in his well reasoned memorandum opinion stating in part: Masters were appointed "for the purpose of measuring the water level of certain wells located in Lonoke County" to ascertain the effect on the water level by appellee's usage. Since the appellee is a riparian landowner, it is clear from what we have said that its use of the underground water is not necessarily a subject for eminent domain proceedings. However, we do not foreclose the right of the appellants, upon proper proof, to show special damages suffered by them by appellee's unreasonable use of the water supply as a riparian owner. Affirmed.