53-9-85 - Enforcement and protection of water rights.
§ 53-9-85. Enforcement and protection of water rights.
(1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as affecting in any way the right of any person to enforce or protect, under applicable law, that person's interest in water resources affected by a surface coal mining operation.
(2) The operator of a surface coal mine shall replace the water supply of an owner of interest in real property who obtains all or part of that person's supply of water for domestic, agricultural, industrial or other legitimate use from an underground or surface source where the supply has been affected by contamination, diminution or interruption proximately resulting from the surface coal mining or reclamation operation.
Sources: Laws, 1979, ch. 477, § 39; Laws, 1997, ch. 306, § 40, eff from and after passage (approved March 10, 1997).