Riparian rights

Riparian rights are great, they are what is also known as 'Water Rights' . Water rights are one of the interests that may be attached to real estate ownership, and pertain to the rights to use adjacent bodies of water. Not every home on the lake has riparian rights.

Owners of riparian land have water rights, this means that they have the right to equally distributed water usage but they cannot interfere with the natural flow of water.

So, the owners of the land can build a dock for example and they would have the right to swim and fish and of course their boats would have the right to boat on the area in common with all the other riparian land owners. It is similar to the benefits that owner of land with minerals underneath their lands have. They are interest in real property, they are not the same as easements, they are natural property rights. 

It is also important to point out that with these rights come some obligations that are important to mention, for example the owners of riparian land are responsible for avoiding polluting the water, diversion of the water as to affect others, their duty also includes maintaining the water banks and to clear any debris whether natural or artificial 

This reminds me of this man who woke up to find a wall of ice on his shores, if he had riparian rights, I would imagine he would be responsible to clear the coast, but I would have to consult with a lawyer about this type of occurrence. This happened recently in PEI

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-first-winter-storm-aftermath-1.4474974

It would be interesting to know if this would fall under the duties of the owner, as they have the duty to have their coast clear of debris yet ice may not be considered debris, but  we know that as owners we need to clear the front of our properties after a snow fall. 

Also they must be responsible for the the protection of land from flooding as well as the protection of the fish!

With all rights comes more responsibilities and more duties, but riparian rights are great rights to have,