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Abstract
Water is one of among the basic necessity of life and it is also a scarce resource. Also it is predicted that the third world war will be fought for the water strength in the world. The word “Riparian” is originated from the Latin word “ripa” which means the river bank. To understand the real meaning of the word riparianism we must be aware about the riparian owner and littoral owner. The person property which is located on the bank of river , lake or a water course while the littoral owner is one who has the land adjoining the sea or ocean and they are having the tides regularly. Littoral is originated from the word Latin word “litus” meaning seashore or coast. Riparian rights are the natural rights that are inherited by an individual through the residence or birth in that specific area. These rights are allotted to the individual who are living at the shore of river or lake. But one condition should be kept in mind that these rights are limited. In the terms of law it means ownership of land near the river bank or any other body of the water. The riparian right is also contiguous to land – Water can’t be separated from land ownership i.e. transfer of land = transfer of right. The one thing to be kept in mind that the Riparian Right must be Reasonable – it should meet the economic needs of society and benefit the society at large and also we should maintain the natural flow of water – from quantity and quality before and after use. No injury should be caused to the downstream users. Also we can have the shared priority that share shortages equitably according to portion of land ownership.