Rights to Nebraska Streamflows: A Historical Overview with Recommendations

I. Preface II. Introduction III. Riparian Rights in Nebraska … A. Requirement of Riparian Land … 1. Natural Watercourse or Lake … 2. Ownership of the Bank and Access to the Stream … 3. Statutory Abrogation of Riparian Rights … 4. Restrictions on the Quantity of Riparian Land … 5. Accretion and Reliction … B. General Nature of the Right … C. Riparian Uses and the Test of "Reasonableness" … D. Restrictions on Place of Use … 1. Use upon Non-Riparian Land … 2. Trans-Watershed Diversions IV. The Nebraska Appropriation System … A. Irrigation Development and the Law: 1860–1895 … 1. The Settlement Years … 2. Prior Appropriation Recognized: The Act of 1877 … 3. The 1889 St. Rayner Irrigation Laws a. Appropriation Established … b. Extent of the Right … c. Administration of the 1889 Law … d. Why Appropriation? … e. Federal Recognition of Appropriation … B. The Campaign for a Comprehensive Appropriation Law: 1890–1895 … 1. The Rise of the Irrigation Crusade … 2. The Political Background of the Movement … 3. Passage of the 1895 Law … C. The 1895 Appropriation and Irrigation Law … 1. Administrative Control … a. The Adjudication of Vested Rights … b. Applications for New Appropriations … c. Administration and Enforcement of Appropriative Rights … 2. Publici Juris … 3. Statutory Controls to Prevent Waste … 4. Preferential Uses … 5. Protection of Existing Rights … 6. Miscellaneous Provisions … D. Redress and Remedies … 1. Acts Not Involving Use … 2. Riparian v. Riparian … 3. Riparian v. Appropriator … E. 1895 to 1972 V. Recommendations … A. Riparian Rights … B. Preferences … C. The Three-Year Non-Use Rule … D. Flexibility of Use … E. Protected Rivers and Minimum Flows VI. Conclusion