---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-8-1. Ownership of running water; right to divert or adulterate water.
collection: code
id: 44-8-1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-8-1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-15-(v32)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=9e9e06de_0#page=18
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-7-119.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-2.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / WATER RIGHTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-8-1. Ownership of running water; right to divert or adulterate water.

Running water belongs to the owner of the land on which it runs; but the landowner has no right to divert the water from its usual channel nor may he so use or adulterate it as to interfere with the enjoyment of it by the next owner.

## History

Ga. L. 1855-56, p. 12, § 1; Code 1863, § 2206; Code 1868, § 2201; Code 1873, § 2227; Code 1882, § 2227; Civil Code 1895, § 3057; Civil Code 1910, § 3629; Code 1933, § 85-1301.

## Law Reviews

For article, “Georgia Water Law, Use and Control Factors,” see 19 Ga. B. J. 119 (1956).

For article discussing federal liability for pollution abatement in condemnation actions, see 17 Mercer L. Rev. 364 (1966).

For article discussing legal questions relating to interbasin transfer of water supply, see 13 Ga. St. B.J. 48 (1976).

For article, “Hazardous Waste Issues in Real Estate Transactions,” see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 581 (1987).

For article, “Water Rights, Public Resources, and Private Commodities: Exam-ining the Current and Future Law Governing the Allocation of Georgia Water,” see 38 Ga. L. Rev. 1009 (2004).

For article, “Special Challenges to Water Markets in Riparian States,” see 21 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 305 (2004).