Legal Definitions - artificial watercourse

An artificial watercourse refers to any channel or conduit for water that has been created or significantly altered by human intervention, rather than forming naturally through geological processes. These structures are designed to manage, divert, or transport water for various purposes, such as irrigation, drainage, navigation, or power generation.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Example 1: Agricultural Irrigation Canal

  A large farming cooperative constructs a network of concrete-lined channels across its fields to deliver water from a nearby reservoir to irrigate crops. This system allows precise control over water distribution, ensuring that each section of farmland receives the necessary hydration. This is an artificial watercourse because the channels were dug, engineered, and maintained by humans specifically for the purpose of agricultural irrigation, rather than being naturally occurring streams or rivers.

• Example 2: Urban Stormwater Drainage Ditch

  Following a major housing development, the local municipality digs a wide, graded ditch alongside a new road to collect and channel rainwater runoff away from residential properties and into a designated retention pond. This prevents flooding and erosion in the developed area. This ditch is an artificial watercourse because it was deliberately excavated and shaped by the municipality to manage stormwater, serving a specific human-engineered drainage function.

• Example 3: Man-made Navigation Channel

  To facilitate the passage of large cargo ships between a major port city and the open sea, engineers dredge and widen a narrow, shallow inlet, creating a deep, navigable channel. This allows vessels to bypass a longer, more treacherous natural route. This deepened and expanded passage is an artificial watercourse because its current form and function as a shipping lane are the direct result of extensive human excavation and modification, not natural geological processes.