43 U.S.C. § 661 : US Code - Section 661: Appropriation of waters on public lands; rights of way for canals and ditches

Search 43 U.S.C. § 661 : US Code - Section 661: Appropriation of waters on public lands; rights of way for canals and ditches

Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water
for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, have
vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by
the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the
possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and
protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of
ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is
acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the
construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the
possession of any settler on the public domain, the party
committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party
injured for such injury or damage.
All patents granted, or preemption or homesteads allowed, shall
be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to
ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights,
as may have been acquired under or recognized by this section.