Title 33 — Title 33

All navigable waters in this state are public thoroughfares. History: (Code 1852, §1205; Code 1867, §1440; Code 1876, §1723; Code 1886, §1459; Code 1896, §2515; Code 1907, §6143; Code 1923, §10565; Code 1940, T. 38, §104.)

Channel in Mobile Bay. Any person who makes any vessel, boat or watercraft of any description, or any raft or collection of logs, lumber or timber, fast to any beacon or light stake or piling which may be of any use or benefit in making use of the dredged channel in the Bay of Mo…

Any person who knowingly or wilfully causes, or is concerned in causing, any damage or injury to any part of the dredged channel as it now exists or may hereafter exist, at any point or points between the upper or northern limits of the Port of Mobile and the lower part of the Ba…

Channel Without Permit, Etc. Any master or person in charge of any vessel drawing more than 12 feet of water which may enter into the dredged channel between the upper limits of the Port of Mobile and the outer bar of the Bay or Harbor of Mobile without a permit from the harbor m…

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) BENEFICIALLY USED. The productive and positive use of dredged material, including fish and wildlife habitat development, human recreation, and industrial and commercial uses. The term does not …

The county commission is authorized to make contracts for opening or cleaning out any navigable stream within the county, and for keeping the same free from obstructions. History: (Code 1852, §1206; Code 1867, §1441; Code 1876, §1724; Code 1886, §1460; Code 1896, §2516; Code 1907…

Any person who dams up or otherwise obstructs a navigable watercourse must, on conviction, be fined not less than $100.00 nor more than $1,000.00. History: (Code 1876, §4254; Code 1886, §4136; Code 1896, §5402; Code 1907, §7864; Code 1923, §5599; Code 1940, T. 38, §107.)

(a) Any person who anchors, moors, or abandons a floating pier, barge, or vessel or sunken or submerged pier, barge, or vessel that obstructs navigation on a public water, as defined in subsection (a) of Section 9-11-80, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor…

Any person, firm or corporation organized for the purpose of improving the navigation upon a navigable river in the State of Alabama, and of developing in connection therewith a water power thereof by a dam and lock, or a system of dams and locks, and electrically transmitting an…

Any such person, firm or corporation may exercise the power of eminent domain, for the purpose of acquiring such lands as it may be necessary or convenient to flood or otherwise utilize in order to improve navigation as provided in this article, such lands to include as well as a…

The person, firm or corporation which first, in point of time, shall have complied with the provisions of this article shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges herein granted. The operation of this section shall be retroactive. History: (Code 1907, §6150; Code 1923, §10…

Any person diverting any stream, whether navigable or not, from its natural channel, is liable to any party aggrieved for the damages sustained. History: (Code 1852, §1210; Code 1867, §1445; Code 1876, §1727; Code 1886, §1463; Code 1896, §2519; Code 1907, §6147; Code 1923, §10569…

Any person who, during the season of high waters, leaves or causes to be left in any of the streams of this state used for floating timber to market saw logs or hewn or square timber which he has put or caused to be put into such stream, so massed or collected together as to obst…

The owner of riparian lands upon navigable waters in the State of Alabama may install in front of their respective riparian lands wharves, docks, warehouses, sheds, tipples, chutes, elevators, conveyors and the like for receiving, discharging, storing, protecting, transferring, l…

Repossession by Legislature. No such structure shall be built or maintained upon or over the lands of the state or lands underlying the navigable waters of the state so as to in any wise unreasonably obstruct navigation, or the freedom of the use of the navigable waters of the st…

All tolls, imposts, charges and duties authorized hereunder for the use of said wharves and other structures occupying the lands of the state or connected therewith, at all times hereafter, shall be subject to regulation and revision by the Legislature or other authority now exis…

In order to encourage the building of bridges, causeways and other development work and relief work, the owner of any lands in the State of Alabama abutting on tidelands, the title to which or control of which may now or hereafter be vested in the State of Alabama, which shall no…

Permitted; Limitations on Right. Any law, or any rule or regulation promulgated by a state agency, to the contrary notwithstanding, any property owner shall have the authority to clean out or dredge a creek or stream running through his property. However, such person shall only b…

Force to Prevent Obstruction. Any person who floats any logs, timber or lumber upon any navigable watercourse, without accompanying the same with sufficient force to prevent the obstruction of such watercourse so as to hinder the removal of any logs, timber or lumber from the ban…

Any person owning or controlling any boom in any navigable watercourse who turns adrift any logs, timber or lumber caught in such boom without giving the owner of such logs, timber or lumber five days’ notice of his intention to do so must, on conviction, be fined not less than $…

This article shall apply only to dams and reservoirs whose owner or owners have elected to be subject to this article. History: (Act 2023-414, §1.)

2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-482, EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. For the purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) ABANDON or ABANDONMENT. To render a dam non-impounding by dewatering and filling the reservoir created b…

482) [Effective until October 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-482, EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) A participating owner shall ensure plans and specifications for initial construction, reconstruction, enlargement, alteration, repair, operation, breach, …

until October 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-482, EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) It shall be the duty of the inspecting engineer to assign a hazard potential classification to dams and reservoirs. (b) In order to protect life and property, participati…

Article. (Amended by Act 2026-482) [Effective until October 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-482, EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. (a) The local emergency management agency has neither inspection nor regulatory duty or responsibility. (b) Records pertaining t…

Any person who opens the boom of another for any purpose without his permission, or wilfully cuts, unties, loosens or casts off any rope, chain, pole, timber, pile or other fastening by which a boom containing any logs, timber or lumber is secured must, on conviction, be fined no…

Riparian Proprietors. Any person who, having been warned within the 12 months next preceding by the owner or proprietor not to do so, trespasses upon any boom, bulkhead or piles, lawfully erected or maintained in any of the waters of this state by any riparian owner or proprietor…