101 



involves both a clear understanding of the principles which should 

 be adopted to secure justice and the social well-beinof of the peoi)le 

 and the manner in which the rights to water in the three States 

 approach or depart therefrom. 



THE EVOLUTION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IN WATER. 



The primitive conception that water, like air and sunshine, is one of 

 the gifts of nature which are free to all alike, does not need to be 

 questioned in sparsely settled or uncivilized regions, but this concep- 

 tion must give way when countries become densely populated, or when 

 special industries, like agriculture by irrigation, make so large de- 

 mands on streams that there is not enough water for all. Free water 

 on ^Manhattan Island is no more a possibility than free forests, and to 

 talk of free water around Denver would be like talking of free coal. 

 Great cities consume enormous quantities of water, the rate of con- 

 sumption seeming to grow with advancing civilization. It requires 

 all the water of a large territory to meet the needs of cities like New 

 York, Boston, and Philadelphia. This consumption necessitates the 

 absorption of streams and the extinction of vested rights in those 

 streams. The common-law doctrine of riparian rights is as unsuited 

 to these conditions as the old-time stagecoach is to the demands 

 of modern travel. Hence new legal remedies must be devised. The 

 last legislature of Xew York passed two important water laws, which 

 illustrate this. One created a city water connnission to ascertain 

 Avhere Xew York City can obtain a supply of pure, wholesome water. 

 The other created a State commission whose consent must be obtained 

 before anj^ city or town can take a water supply by condemnation. 

 This is State ownership or control of public water sujiplies far in 

 advance of many arid States. Even in England, with its rainy, 

 foggy climate and a soil requiring drainage because of surplus water, 

 the long-established riparian doctrine is having to give way because 

 of the increasing use of Avater. To meet the enormous consumption 

 of London, surface and underground streams are l)eing diverted into 

 pipe lines and carried by means of pumps many miles away from the 

 original channels. This is a violation of the connnon-law doctrine, 

 because under it the rights of riparian lands were inalienable. 



In densely populated countries like Italy, Germany, Switzerland, 

 and France, the water of streams is under private or j)ublic control, 

 notAvithstanding the fact that the climate of each of these countries 

 is humid. In cities water is now used for a nudtitude of purj^oses 

 which had no place in the life of primitive peoples. The inven- 

 tions which led to the use of steam as a motive power enormously 

 increased the consumption and industrial importance of water. 

 Improvements in machinery to utilize differences in level in the 



