Riparian and littoral rights are appurtenant (attached) to the land. The right to use the water belongs to whoever owns the bordering land and cannot be retained by a former owner after the land is sold.
Riparian Rights
Riparian rights are common law rights granted to owners of land along the course of a river, stream, or similar body of flowing water.
An owner of land that borders a non-navigable waterway (that is, a body of water unsuitable for commercial boat traffic) owns the land under the water to the exact center of the waterway.
Land adjoining commercially navigable rivers, on the other hand, is usually owned to the water’s edge, with the state holding title to the submerged land. Navigable waters are considered public waterways on which the public has an easement or right to travel.
Littoral Rights
Closely related to riparian rights are the littoral rights of owners whose land borders commercially navigable lakes, seas, and oceans. Owners own the land adjacent to the water only up to the mean high water mark. All land below this point is owned by the public and can be used by the public when the water recedes below the mean high-water mark.
In some states where water is scarce, ownership and the use of water is often determined by the doctrine of prior appropriation. Under the doctrine, the right to use any water with the exception of limited domestic use, is controlled by the state rather than by the landowner adjacent to the water.
Accretion, Erosion, and Avulsion
Increase in Land
An owner is entitled to all land created through accretion increases in the land resulting from the deposit of soil by the water’s action. Deposits are called alluvion or alluvium.)
An owner is entitled to all land created through reliction – increases in the land resulting from water receding.
Decrease in Land
Erosion is the gradual and imperceptible wearing away of the land by natural forces such as wind, rain, and flowing water. Fortunately, erosion usually takes hundreds of years to have any noticeable effect on a person’s property. Flash floods or heavy winds can increase the speed of erosion.
Avulsion is the sudden removal of soil by an act of nature. It is an event that causes the loss of land much less subtly than erosion. A major earthquake or a mudslide, for instance, can cause an individual’s land holdings to become much smaller very quickly.
