Robert Morein wrote in message ...
In article ,
"Travis Hayes" wrote:

In one part of our county, the water table is high enough that no one builds
homes with basements in that area. As I was driving by one of the many new
housing developments the other day I wondered, if I lived in a swampy area
like that, could I just dig a hole and put a pump down there to pump up
water for irrigation? In the same area, culinary water is the only way to
get your lawn watered.

My gut says, "well, sure, it's your land, you have the rights to
anything you find on it, be it gold, toxic waste, or swamp water". But

then, I seem to recall that there are a lot of intricate laws on the books
specifically about water rights.

Just curious. Any thoughts?



Some places you have the mineral rights and some you don't. Water is a
separate issue. People used to have wells before municipal systems.
Many municipalities do not allow any wells even for lawn watering.
However, some are still left over. I went into a garage for a garage
sale and asked the owner what all those pipes were. He had a hidden
well he was using to water the lawn. By the way, one reason the wells
are not allowed is because a large part of the municipal water cost is
the sewage and disposal and they can't be sure you are just watering
the lawn.

If it's swampy, why would you need to irrigate anything?