When Is a Stream a Stream. Some Geomorphic, Hydrologic and Legal Considerations

摘要

Recent litigation indicates that an ambiguity exists over what constitutes a stream under Montana's Natural Streambed and Land Preservation Act of 1975. A review of the relevant geomorphic, hydrologic, and legal literature indicates that the definition of 'stream' within Western water law has been consistent with the basic principles of the water sciences. Western water law tends to be liberal in favor of holding that running bodies of surface waters confined within reasonably definable banks and bed are to be considered streams, even if their flow is not continual.