---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-8-2. Rights of adjoining owners in nonnavigable streams; principles when stream is boundary; accretions.
collection: code
id: 44-8-2
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-8-2 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-2
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-2.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-8-2/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=22
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.
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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. § 44-8-2. Rights of adjoining owners in nonnavigable streams; principles when stream is boundary; accretions.

The beds of nonnavigable streams belong to the owner of the adjacent land. If the stream is a dividing line between two parcels of land, each owner’s boundary shall extend to the thread or the center of the main current of the water. If the current changes gradually, the boundary line follows the current. If from any cause the stream takes a new channel, the original line, if identifiable, remains the boundary. Gradual accretions of land on either side accrue to the owner of that side.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2207; Code 1868, § 2202; Code 1873, § 2228; Code 1882, § 2228; Civil Code 1895, § 3058; Civil Code 1910, § 3630; Code 1933, § 85-1302.

## Cross References

Jurisdiction of county over stream of water which forms boundary of county, § 36-1-2.

Diversion, obstruction, or pollution of nonnavigable watercourses as constituting trespass, § 51-9-7.

## Law Reviews

For article on principles of water law in the southeast, see 13 Mercer L. Rev. 344 (1962).