Riparian

In the UK if you live by a stream or river, most times you become responsible for the bank to the stream or river. There is even a riparian society for those who own such pieces of ground and of course, laws governing their use. The rivers themselves are usually governed in concert with the water companies who have rights to draw water from streams in case of droughts, and farmers who are the most obvious people to own stretches of running water.

In the future with electricity becoming more and more expensive smaller owners may get permission to place their own generators in flows fast enough to generate electricity for homes, something that will become common place when electric cars really become de rigeur.

So it is surprising to know that in America  there are States where landowners are kept away from the banks of rivers because companies are allowed to dump waste into them and the water is toxic. Surprising because this is supposed to be an enlightened country but obviously some States will degrade and destroy their own water for profit.

The idea that you can ruin a thing because there is another just like it you can keep, is a strange and damning way to think but the people who think this way sacrifice people for the same reason: there are more where they came from.