Man Decides He Needs to Build a Lake

[cu74]

BlackEagle - Before your neighbor starts drilling in his back yard, you might want to do some close reading of his property deed (and yours). Almost all property deeds in California have fine print that says, in effect, the buyer only has "surface rights" the the land - every one of mine had that language. The mineral rights were bought up years ago by the oil and/or mining companies, and there may be water right restrictions as well.

In the states west of the Rockies and in many states/areas west of the Mississippi water rights are deed-specified. HRTN speaks truth - and so does rightisright. The big evil oil company I worked for maintains one-person offices in every western state just to defend their water rights - not oil leases, but water rights.

[drice]

What a moron.

Jesus, what a time-sink reading that whole freaking thing was. And Yes, I read all 47 million posts.

Huh, must've found it interesting, after all.

Let's see here:
1) Move to Texas
2) Buy 2 or 3 buldozers and backhoes
3) Go to the gym every day for 3 years to prepare
4) Spend every waking moment for the next 2 years digging a hole.
5) Wait for it to fill up.
6) Enjoy it for the rest of my life.

Sounds fun. Where do I sign up.

Oh yeah, I forgot the best part. Apparently, when you do this, you get to marry a model. Even better.

[HTRN]

I fully approve of owning bulldozers/backhoes, and marrying models.

One will raise the opinion your friends have of you.. And the other looks good for a night on the town.

Now guess which one is which.


HTRN

[Lokidude]

I fully approve of owning bulldozers/backhoes, and marrying models.

One will raise the opinion your friends have of you.. And the other looks good for a night on the town.

Now guess which one is which.


HTRN

They're almost interchangeable. And as for water, that and cattle rustling are both still killing offenses in many minds in the West.

[blackeagle603]

CU74,
Oh yeah, we're pretty tuned in the legalities of it. High percentage of property in our 'hood along that bottom all have permitted wells -- several in the past 5-10 years. Close friends work for local district and one is Civil Engineer currently responsible for overseeing wells.

[Aglifter]

Hmm... It's obviously going to vary from state to state, but usually owning mineral rights, does NOT include owning water rights. In the west, you can buy water rights separately but that's a separate estate from the mineral estate -- and some of it, usually, cannot be divested from the surface estate.