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Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-110

§666 Suits for Adjudication of Water Rights

Title 43 › CHAPTER 15 — APPROPRIATION OF WATERS; RESERVOIR SITES › § 666

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States can be named as a defendant in court cases that decide or manage who may use water when the United States owns or is getting water rights and the United States is needed in the case. If joined, the United States gives up any defense that state water laws do not apply or that it cannot be sued because it is the government. It must follow the court’s orders and can appeal like a private person. The court cannot order the United States to pay the other side’s costs. All legal papers must be served on the Attorney General or the person the Attorney General names. This does not let anyone force the United States into a Supreme Court case between States about using water from an interstate stream.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §666

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Joinder of United States as defendant; costs
Consent is given to join the United States as a defendant in any suit (1) for the adjudication of rights to the use of water of a river system or other source, or (2) for the administration of such rights, where it appears that the United States is the owner of or is in the process of acquiring water rights by appropriation under State law, by purchase, by exchange, or otherwise, and the United States is a necessary party to such suit. The United States, when a party to any such suit, shall (1) be deemed to have waived any right to plead that the State laws are inapplicable or that the United States is not amenable thereto by reason of its sovereignty, and (2) shall be subject to the judgments, orders, and decrees of the court having jurisdiction, and may obtain review thereof, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances: Provided, That no judgment for costs shall be entered against the United States in any such suit.
(b)Service of summons
Summons or other process in any such suit shall be served upon the Attorney General or his designated representative.
(c)Joinder in suits involving use of interstate streams by State
Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing the joinder of the United States in any suit or controversy in the Supreme Court of the United States involving the right of States to the use of the water of any interstate stream.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section is comprised of subsections (a) to (c) of section 208 of act
July 10, 1952. Subsection (d) of section 208 is omitted as it referred to the limitation on the use of any appropriation in act
July 10, 1952 to prepare or prosecute the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of California, by the United States v. Fallbrook Public Utility Corporation.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 666

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110