Water!

We can't live long without it. It's infinite value to humanity is without compare. Like Esau of old, many would probably sell their birthright if they became thirsty enough.

Spiritually, Water always existed since God first spoke the world into existence, but wasn't specifically created by itself. In Genesis 1, beginning with verse 1, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. v2; And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters ... Beginning in v.7 through v.10, God created the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. V.9 God separated the water, gathering it together to form seas, and thereby created dry land. Some have made the observation that as the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, that water is part of the Holy Spirit's Character, and is shown in His Blessing to us as His people, or the lack of blessing in his chastening for sin, to call us back to Himself.

The value of our health, a mother's ability to generate milk to feed her baby; sanitation, the fertility of land, crop production, livestock production; in general: the agricultural business as a whole; its investments and profits; all affect the cost of our groceries and restaurant tabs; even the cost of the blue collar's weekend beer - depends on the availability of Water!

Someone wisely observed, "If we have no water, we don't live here anymore!"

Historically, unless the land patent or land grant reserved or excluded water rights, these rights to water were granted with the land to the grantee, his heirs and assigns, forever. Homesteaders would ride till they found tall grasses and healthy trees and vegetation, as evidence of the land being well watered, thus the promise of the land being productive and fertile to be able to sustain life and the promise of prosperity.

Some Water rights to be discussed will be sub-terrainian water (in underground springs, and aquifers), rivers which can either be navigable (can be considered to be highways) or un-navigable, but may have riparian rights to those whose land has a river either running through it, or bordering it, and surface water such as in natural ponds, lakes, or the right to maintain water in tanks for use of watering cattle, raising fish, or helping local firefighting efforts with providing water availability.  The laws applicable to the land and its relation to the water, are contingent on what laws are applicable at the time the original grant transferring and conveying the land was made.

Wars have been fought over water rights.

In our Contemporary world, governmental agencies, being corporations, and sub-corporations have presumed authority to regulate, sell and profit from the water under the ground, and running alongside on or bordering private land. Where do they gain this control and authority? Has this water been sold, contracted, or ceded to these agencies by the owners of the land that possesses the rights to this water? I think not, for the Most Part... My thoughts are that there is a presumption by land owners, that these agencies are "the government", and that they have the authority they claim to have. Unless these agencies can provide proof of ownership, it is simply a matter of presumption and bluff, and not one of fact. There is a lot of money at stake. If they can charge for permit fees, license fees, inspection fees, .cents per gallon pumped, and another .cents per gallon transported across county lines, as well as fees for the land owner for water used; and can regulate how much and when it's used; if it must be chemically treated; licensed, inspected or rationed, ... there's a lot at stake!

In Texas, it has been adjudicated and shown that the land owners own the water under their land. These governmental agencies are attempting to intimidate land owners to register their private water wells. Once registered (having voluntary complied - as cannot be lawfully required as mandatory), counties are now installing meters, and billing land owners for their own water! This, is a huge concern for land owners in general; but for ranchers who have cattle, this could become financially devastating in terms of profitability, as those cows can drink a LOT OF WATER!!!

For the most part, the laws regarding water were based on Common Law and Equity. One could in good faith use all the water from their own land's well that was needed for their own personal use, without waste, as long as they did not maliciously harm their neighbor's ability to possess equal benefit from their wells, to provide their needs. The Purpose and Intent was that everyone had the unregulated ability to utilize the water available- to benefit the land owner. The concept of Monstrous wells 2 feet in diameter 700+ ft. deep, with Hydraulic pumps that could easily pump thousands of gallons of water a day, draining the aquifer, and leaving ALL one's neighbors without water in their wells - was not something that was even conceivable back when these laws were written; nor was the intent and purpose of the plain language of those early laws to permit this inequitable rape of the land's resources.

We all understand that water, like oil and gas is a liquid resource, and as such flows to the lowest point due to gravity. If a mega well and pump is pumping out the aquifer, the neighbor's land is also being pumped dry because of liquid migration of the water within the aquifer. The key must be to look at the INTENT of the laws at the time they were written, and understand the technological capabilities at that time. The lawmakers clearly were against regulation of one's rights to use what was known to be the land owner's right of possessory use; but it was also understood that these rights were generally understood to be limited to that of the land owner's personal use for his family's needs, and those of his farm or ranch, or small home business.

This, presumption of ownership of the water rights, and thus the authority to regulate water ... is the question at hand ... We don't claim to have legal determinations or answers. We can only show the historical evidence that may lead one to the answers they seek. The key is to look at the original land grant/patent, and see what laws were in force and effect with the land was ceded and relinquished from the public lands possessed by the government, AND, what was stipulate in the grant/patent as retained or exempted by the grant/patent, as reserved or excepted so as to be retained by the government, out from that which was granted. The chain of title must be researched, to see if the land owner has a clean and complete, unbroken chain of title back to the severance of the government's common source title. If it never came back into contact with the government, through a tax sale, then it remains without the government's jurisdiction according to most case law.

This however, does not negate civil negligence and malicious takings of the assets of one's neighbor's land rights. So, even if it technically can be considered legal, the historical understanding of intent and purpose of these laws, with technology being what it was at the time, and the moral and ethical issues that must be considered, whereby a civil claim for damages, or equitable trespass may be warranted.

This, then, is the question ... We don't claim to have legal determinations or answers. We can only show the historical evidence that may lead one to the answers they seek.

REALIST NEWS - A Third of US Households may not be able to afford water bill in 5 years

Water costs already up 41% since 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Rh6gM_4iQ

Also see:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/boone-pickens-wants-to-sell-you-his-water/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-new-water-barons-wall-street-mega-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/5383274
http://newsok.com/article/3579874
http://www.cowboysindians.com/2016/10/t-boone-pickens-mesa-vista-ranch/
https://www.tribtalk.org/2014/12/08/why-water-is-not-the-new-oil/
https://popularresistance.org/wall-street-mega-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/

This is a page in progress. Please be patient while the information is gathered, and uploaded for everyone to utilize. If you possess information that may form a piece of the picture, and are willing to contribute it to be put up on the webpage, please contact us and let us know. We will try and add to this page as we have time and availability of historical data, and the relevant court cases to use as evidence to support one's claim to rights to one's own water under/on/bordering their land.