(a) A right to appropriate water can be acquired only as provided in this chapter. A right to the use of water either appropriated or unappropriated may not be acquired by adverse use or possession.

Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 46.15.040

  • appropriate: means to divert, impound, or withdraw a quantity of water from a source of water, for a beneficial use or to reserve water under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 46.15.260
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • appropriation: means the diversion, impounding, or withdrawal of a quantity of water from a source of water for a beneficial use or the reservation of water under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 46.15.260
  • commissioner: means the commissioner of natural resources. See Alaska Statutes 46.15.260
  • state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • water: means all water of the state, surface and subsurface, occurring in a natural state, except mineral and medicinal water. See Alaska Statutes 46.15.260
(b) A right to appropriate water shall be obtained by first making application to the commissioner for a permit to appropriate. The commissioner shall by regulation prescribe the form and contents of the application and the procedure for filing the application. If a permit is granted and the means of appropriation is constructed, a certificate of appropriation may be obtained.
(c) All applications to the commissioner for a permit to appropriate water, filed subsequent to July 1, 1966, shall be considered as having been simultaneously filed with the Department of Fish and Game under Alaska Stat. Title 16 and the Department of Environmental Conservation under Alaska Stat. Chapter 46.03.
(d) The commissioner’s issuance of a permit under Alaska Stat. § 46.15.080 or of a certificate under Alaska Stat. § 46.15.065 or 46.15.120 does not represent a guarantee by the state to the permittee or certificate holder that water will be available for appropriation at a certain volume, quality, artesian pressure, or cost. This subsection does not, however, alter the right a permittee or certificate holder may have against a later appropriator, including a government agency.
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