Can groundwater rights be separated from the land rights?
Published on by Subrata Singh, General Manager (Programs) at Foundation for Ecological Security in Social
In most cases groundwater is a resource found beneath private lands. The owners of the land assume they have the ownership of the water found in the aquifers below their lands. However, ground water aquifer is a common resource that benefits and/ or affects larger populations.
Are there any policies about separating land rights from groundwater rights?
Could you please share your thoughts and publications on the topic?
You may contact me at - subratasingh@ gmail.com.
Regards,
Subrat
Taxonomy
- Water Rights
- Groundwater
- Groundwater Resource
1 Answer
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In legislation of the Russian Federation if you want to get ground water from the aquifers used for public water supply you should receive a special license. There are different license for mineral water and fresh water and for bottling of water and for water supply. We have different ground water aquifers with a limited amount of water. Government department control the amount of water consumers and in license every consumer have a limited amount of water to get from special ground water aquifer. We have auctions wich result in getting the license on drilling mineral ground water. If you are a owner of the ground it doesn’t mean that you are a owner of the underground water resources. It’s a short description of RF laws on this subject.