Stored water act

From Water Wiki

North Carolina passed a statute in 1971 that gives persons who pay for impoundment of water enhanced rights to that water. The statute was passed with the W. Kerr Scott Reservoir in mind (built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Wilkes County, in the 1960s, storing water for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County), but it is broadly applicable--perhaps even to farm ponds.

§ 143‑215.44.  Right of withdrawal.

(a)       A person who lawfully impounds water for the purpose of withdrawal shall have a right of withdrawal of excess volume of water attributable to the impoundment. Within the meaning of this subsection, the word "purpose" shall include one of several purposes in a multiple purpose impoundment.

(b)       A "right of withdrawal," within the meaning of this Part, is an interest which establishes a right to withdraw an excess volume of water superior to other interests in the water.

(c)       "Excess volume of water," within the meaning of this Part, is that volume which may be withdrawn from an impoundment or from a watercourse below the impoundment without foreseeably reducing the rate of flow of a watercourse below that which would obtain in that watercourse if the impoundment did not exist.

(d)       "Impound," within the meaning of this Part, shall include but is not limited to financial contributions or the assurance of financial contributions in the construction or operation of an impoundment.

(e)       Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 827, s. 182. [[|(1971, c. 111, s. 1; 1987, c. 827, s. 182.)]]