- § 661. Appropriation of waters on public lands; rights of way for canals and ditches
- § 662. Reservation of reservoir sites generally
- § 663. Restriction of sites to inclusion of necessary lands
- § 664. Rights of way over reservoir sites generally
- § 665. Rights of way over reservoir sites for wagon road, railroad, or other highway
- § 666. Suits for adjudication of water rights
Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.
All patents granted, or preemption or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under or recognized by this section.
Sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation and the prevention of floods and overflows, located or selected prior to August 30, 1890, shall remain segregated and reserved from entry, or settlement, until otherwise provided by law, and reservoir sites thereafter located or selected on public lands shall in like manner be reserved from the date of the location or selection thereof.
Reservoir sites located or selected and to be located and selected shall be restricted to and shall contain only so much land as is actually necessary for the construction and maintenance of reservoirs; excluding so far as practicable lands occupied by actual settlers at the date of the location of said reservoirs.
All reservoir sites reserved or to be reserved shall be open to use and occupation under sections 946 to 949 1
In the form provided by existing law, the Secretary of the Interior may file and approve surveys and plats of any right of way for a wagon road, railroad, or other highway over and across any reservoir site when in his judgment the public interests will not be injuriously affected thereby.