Law of Percolating Waters

Authors

Jno B. Clayberg, San Francisco, California

Abstract

Percolating waters are well understood as being underground waters. Underground waters have been from time immemorial divided into two general classes, namely: (a) flowing stream's, and (b) percolating waters. Percolating waters are divided by text writers into several distinct classes. No two text writers seem to have adopted the same classification. Such classifications are all more or less unimportant insofar as the application of the law is concerned. There cannot be any difference between percolating water which is diffuse and percolating water which reaches the channel of a stream or its sub-flow. All percolating water, unless detained by some natural obstruction, will eventually reach the body of a stream, either in the surface or sub-flow, and even where it is obstructed by some natural impediment, such as a dike or the like, when the basin becomes filled, all the percolating water thereafter coming in will either itself be forced out of the basin or will force out other water. Therefore any classification of percolating waters is merely academic and only made for the purpose of illustrating the different cases by the text writer who has made the classification.

Recommended Citation

Jno B. Clayberg, Law of Percolating Waters, 14 Mich. L. Rev. 119 (1915).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol14/iss2/3