UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 913 
Contribution from the Bureau of Public Roads ^iayA 
THOS. H. MACDONALD, Chief JWrWii 
Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER September 21, 1920 
THE WESTERN FARMER'S WATER RIGHT. 
By R. P. Teele, Irrigation Economist. 
Page. 
What a water right is 1 
General characteristics of water rights- 2 
Acquirement of rights 3 
Evidences of title to rights to water 
from streams 4 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Rights to underground waters 8 
Rights to water from canals 9 
Distribution of water 13 
WHAT A WATER RIGHT IS. 
In the western nart of the United States the rainfall is insufficient 
to supply the moisture needs of growing crops, and it is necessary to 
make up the deficiency by irrigation. The water used for irrigation 
comes principally from streams, but in part from other sources. 
There is not sufficient Wi & ' .^ these sources to supply all the de- 
mands, and consequently some land is supplied with water while 
other land must go without. In order that arid land shall be cul- 
tivated, the farmers of that land must have assurance that they may 
continue to use water in the future, for without such assurance no 
one would engage in agriculture in arid regions on account of its 
uncertainty. Under these conditions there has grown up in the West 
a system of laws and customs controlling the use of water, under 
which a farmer secures a " water right," which assures, in greater 
or less degree, his future water supply. Without such a right arid 
land has very little value, while with a right such land has higher 
value than much of the land in the humid parts of the country. 
It is probable that there is no more complicated subject in the 
whole field of property rights than water rights, yet the practical 
working of the system is comparatively simple and easily under- 
stood. It is believed that a general understanding of the subject is 
within the reach of all and will be of great value to every farmer in 
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