Governance & Policy
Prior Appropriation
A water-rights doctrine, dominant in the western United States, allocating water by priority of first use rather than land ownership.
Definition
Prior appropriation is a legal doctrine for allocating water rights in which the first person to divert water for a "beneficial use" acquires a right senior to all later claimants — "first in time, first in right". Rights are quantified, tied to continued beneficial use ("use it or lose it"), and in times of scarcity are satisfied in order of seniority, regardless of where along the watercourse the user sits.
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