Water code d and e report

D. Utilization, Order of Preference and Conditions for the Use of

Waters

Domestic and municipal useWhen priority in time of appropriation from the source cannot be determined.

Irrigation

Power generation

Fisheries

Livestock raising

Industrial Use

Other uses.

Order of Preference in the use of waters.

Factors to consider

Security of the State

Multiple use

Benefecial effects

Adverse effects

Costs of development

Utilization of waters

An area of land where subterranena or ground water and surface water are so interreleated that withdrawal and use in one simlarly affects the other.

Boundary may be altered from time to time.

Promulgated by the Council for the coordinated development, protection of subterranean or ground water and surface water as the use of one similarly affects the other.

Control Area

May be used by any person for domestic purposes

For watering plants

Manually withdrawn sans checking the stream or damaging the canal, aqueduct or reservoir.

Can be restricted by the owner if injurious to him.

Water in open canals, aqueducts or reservoirs of private persons

No excavation for emission of a hot spring or enlargement of existing opening sans permit.

DOH permit is needed should a person or agency intends to develop a hot spring for human consumption.

Prohibitions and conditions for use of waters

No person sahall develop a stream, lake or spring for recreational purposes without the permit of the Council.


No person shall induce or restrain rainfall by any method such as cloud seeding without the orders of the President and only in time of national emergency or calamity.


N operson shall raise or lower the water level of a river, stream, lake, lagoon or marsh nor drain the same without a permit.


Drainage systems shall be so constructed that their outlets are rivers lakes the sea, natural bodies of water or such other water course as may be approved by the proper government agency.


When artificial means are employed to drain water from higher to lower land, the owner of the higher land shall select the routes and methods of drainage that will cause the minimum damage to the lower lands, subject to the requirement of just compensation.


When the use, conveyance or storage of waters result in damage to another, the person responsible for the damage sahll pay compensation.

Any person having an easement for an aqueduct may enter upon the servient land for the purpose of cleaning, repairing, or replacing the aqueduct or the removal of obstructions therefrom.


Lower estates are obliged to receive the waters which naturally and without the intervention of man flow from the higher estate, as well as the stone or earth which they carry with them.

The owner fo the lower estate cannot construct works which will impede this natural flow, unless he provides an alternative method of drainage; neither the owner of the higher estate make works which will increase this natural flow.


Banks of rivers and stream and the shores of the seas and lakes throughout their entire lengths

3 meters in urban areas.

20 meters in agricultural areas.

40 methers in forest areas.

They are subject to easement in the interest of recreation, floatage, fishing, navigation and salvage.

No person shall stay longer than what is necessary.


Natural drainage of lands

Natural drainage of buildings

Easements on riparian banks for navigation, floating, fishing and salvage.

Easement of a dam.

Easement for drawing water or from watering animals.

Easement of aqueduct.

Easement fro the construction of a stop lock or sluice gate.

Legal easements relating to waters under the Civil Code

Lower estates have the obligation to receive the water which naturally flow from the higher estates.

To impose natural easement upon lower estate.

Remman Enterprises vs CA

Heavy rains may cuased overflooding but such act of God by reason of negligence, the fortuitous event became humanized, rendering it liable for the ensuing damages. Thus, owner of servient estate is entitled to compensation.

Art 50 of PD 1067 and Art. 637 of Civil Code

Art 51 of PD 1067 – banks of rivers and streams are subjected to easement for public use.

3 methers in urban areas.

20 meters in agricultural areas.

40 meters in forest areas.

Easement of Public

Interest of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage. No person shall stay longer than what is necessary.

Easement of Public

A. Prohibition against activities that obstruct the flow of water.

Secretary of DPWH – may declare flood control areas and promulgate guidelines fro governing flood plain management

In declared flood control areas, rules and regulations shall ensure to prohibit or control activities that may damage or cause deterioration or lakes and dikes, obstuct the flow of water, change the natural flow of the river increase food

Control of Waters

B. Rivers or lakes may be declared navigable.

ART 59 Water Code – upon recommendation of the Philippine Coast Guard, rivers, lakes, and lagoons may be declared navigable in whole or in part.

Lovina vs Moreno – The Court upheld the power of the Public Works Secretary to declare as a public stream any alleged depressions or bodies of water even inside titled properties. Such is incidental to his duty to clear all navigable streams of unauthorized obstructions and hence, its grant did not constitute an unlawful delegation of judicial power.

Control of Waters

C. River beds, sand bars, and tidal flats may not be cultivated.

Upon prior permission from the Secretary, DPWH

Such cultivation must not obstruct the flow of water or increase flood levels so as to cause damage to other areas.

Control of Waters

D. Erection of levees.

Any person may erect levees or revetments to protect his property from flood, encroachment by the river or change in the course of the river, provided that such constructions does not cause damage to the property of another.

Control of Waters

E. Change of course of rivers Owners of affected lands may not compel the government

from taking steps to revert the river or stream to its former course.

Owners are not entitled to compensation for any damage sustained.

Former owners of the new bed shall be the owners of the abandoned bed in proportion to the area lost.

Old owners must secure permit from DPWH to undertake return of the river to its stream within 2 years.

Control of Waters

F. Reservoirs

Waters of a stream may be stored in a reservoir by a permittee in such amount as will not prejudice the right of any permittee downstream. Whoever operates the reservoir shall, when required, release water for minimum stream flow.

Control of Waters

G. Drilling for subterranean or ground water.

The Council shall approve the manner, location, depth and spacing in which borings for subterranean or ground water may be made, determine the requirements for the registration of every boring or alteration to existing borings as well as other control measures for the exploitation of subterranean or ground water resources.

No person shall drill a well without prior permission from the Council.

Control of Waters

H. Easement of aqueduct.

Any person who may wish to use upon his own estate any water of which he can dispose shall have the right to make it flow through the intervening estates, with the obligation to indemnify their owners, as well as the owners of the lower estates upon which the waters may filter or descend.

Control of Waters

Conservation and protection of waters and watershed and related land resources.

National Water Resources Council – establish minimum water levels necessary for the protection of the environment, control of pollution, navigation, prevention of salt damage and general public use.

The conservation measures shall include: Any watershed or any area of land adjacent to any surface water or

overlying any ground water.

Conservation of fish and wildlife.

Swamps and marshes which are owned by the State.

Sewage, Industrial waste or any pollutant into any source of water supply must be with prior permission from Environmental Management Bureau.

Establishment of cemeteries and waste disposal areas that may affect the source of water supply or a reservoir.

Tailings from mining operators and sediments from placer mining shall not be dumped into rivers and waterways sans permit from Council thru recommendation of EMB.

Control of Waters

Sta. Rosa Realty Devp. Corp. vs CA

Watershed is an area drained by a river and its tributaries and enclosed by a boundary or divide which separates it from adjacent watersheds.

The protection of watershedensures an adequate supply of water for future generations and the control of flashfloods that not only damage property but also cause loss of lives.

Protection of watersheds is an ‘intergenerational responsibility that needs to be answered now.

Watershieds may be declared a protected area.

Collado vs. CA

Ecological blaances and environmental disasters in our day and seem to be interconnected and property developers and tillers of the land must be aware of this deadly combination.

The disputed parces of land in Sta. Rosa Realty form a vital part of an area that need to be protected for watershed purposes.

Watersheds are important not only for their ecological and environmental value but also because they constitute a most vital life support system to thousands of inhabitants directly and indirectly affected since from these watersheds come the natural God-given precious resource – WATER.

Watershieds may be declared a protected area.

Any watershed or any area of land adjacent to any surface water or overlying any ground water may be declared by the DENR as a protected area.

It directs the DENR to promulgate rules and regulations to prohibit or control any activities by the owners or occupants within the protected area which may damage or cause the deterioration of the surface water or ground water or interfere with the investigation, use, control, protection, management or administration of such waters.

Art. 67 of Water Code

Collado vs CA – PRINCIPLE - A watershed reservation is not susceptible

of occupancy, disposition conveyance, or alienation.

Sec 48 (b) of CA No. 141 – A positive act of the executive department is needed to

declassify land which had been erlier classifed as a watershed reservation and to convert it into alienable or disposable land for agricultural or other purposes.

Once a parcel of land is included within a watershed reservation duly established by executive proclamation, a presumption arises that the land continues to be part of such reservation until clear and convincing evidence of subsequent declassification is shown.

A settler claiming protection of private rights must show by clear and convincing evidence that the land was acquired by any means for the acquisition of public lands.

A watershed reservation is not subject to occupancy or alienation.

Tan vs Director of Forestry. Watersheds serve as defense against soil erosion and

guarnatee the steady supply of water.

The Constitution expressly mandates the conservation and proper utilization of natural resources which include the country’s watersheds.

A timber license is an instrument by which the State regulates the utilization and disposition of forest resources including watershed areas, to the end that public welfare is promoted.

A timber license is not a contract; it is only a license or privilege, which can be validly withdrawn whenever dictated by public interest or public welfare.

A timber license convering a watershed area may be withdrawn in

the public interest.

Education

Water code d and e report