Water Boundaries - Practical Boundary Surveying - page 196

Chapter 13
Water Boundaries
In many cases a surveyor must establish the boundaries of a parcel of land border-
ing a river, stream, lake or the sea. If the boundary is a river or stream, the rights
that a person has are referred to as Riparian Rights . If the boundary is an ocean
or a lake, then the rights are called Littoral Rights . Sometimes the rights relat-
ing to any water boundary are referred to as riparian rights but this terminology is
inaccurate. The law of water boundaries varies considerably between jurisdictions.
What follows is a general discussion designed to acquaint the reader with some of
the issues related to water boundaries in some jurisdictions. The reader is encour-
aged to research the law in their own jurisdiction.
The first step in locating the boundaries of a parcel of land fronting on the
water is to determine if the water is navigable. In general, the owner of land abut-
ting non-navigable waters owns the bed. The bed is the area between the banks
that is normally covered by water. If the water is navigable, the property owner
will usually not own the bed.
The question of whether a particular body of water is navigable is not always
clear and the test for navigability varies between jurisdictions. The federal rule for
determining whether a body of water is navigable is whether or not the water is
Navigable-in-fact . The test is whether the water is used, or is susceptible of being
used in its ordinary condition as a highway over which commerce may be car-
ried on between other states or countries. If the water is navigable, then ownership
of the bed rests with the state. If the water is regularly used for commerce, there
should be little question as to the upland owner's rights, the ownership of the bed
will be vested in the state. If the water is not used for commerce and it is not capa-
ble of being used for commerce, ownership of the bed will most likely be with the
upland land owner.
Where a stream is non-navigable, the upland owner bordering on one side of
the stream is presumed to own to the middle or Thread of the stream. The thread
is a line that is midway between the banks of the stream, usually measured at