Introduced
by
To repeal the riparian water use doctrine of Michigan law, which establishes that a property owner has a property right to the use of groundwater drawn from beneath his or her land, as long as this does not interfere with another person’s use of groundwater. Instead, property owners would not have a have an ownership right, but could use groundwater only if the state grants permission. This riparian use doctrine is the norm east of the Mississippi River, but not in arid states of the west. The bill would also prohibit the sale outside the Great Lakes basin of bottled water that is taken from a municipal water system. This would include the Nestle bottled water plant (formerly Perrier) in Mecosta County. This is the same as House Bill 5366. See also “Water Legacy Act”.
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, Great Lakes, Land Use, and Environment
