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91_HB3100
LRB9108571RCpkA
1 AN ACT in relation to riparian rights.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Riparian Rights Act.
6 Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:
7 "Bottomland" means the land area of an inland lake or
8 stream that lies below the ordinary high-water mark and that
9 may or may not be covered by water.
10 "Drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping
11 of a drainage system that receives the discharge from soil,
12 waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of a
13 building and conveys it to 5 feet beyond the foundation walls
14 where it is connected to the building sewer.
15 "Building sewer" means that part of the horizontal piping
16 of a drainage system that extends from the end of the drain,
17 receives the discharge of the drain, and conveys it to a
18 public sewer or private sewage disposal system.
19 "Impoundment" means water held back by a dam, dike,
20 floodgate, or other barrier.
21 "Inland lake or stream" means a natural or artificial
22 lake, pond, or impoundment; a river, stream, or creek that
23 may or may not be serving as a drain; or any other body of
24 water that has definite banks, a bed, and visible evidence of
25 a continued flow or continued occurrence of water. "Inland
26 lake or stream" does not include:
27 (1) Lake Michigan or any other public bodies of
28 water administered under the Rivers, Lakes, and Streams
29 Act;
30 (2) Kaskaskia River below Carlyle Dam or water
31 storage in Carlyle Lake and Lake Shelbyville administered
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1 under the Kaskaskia River Watershed and Basin Act;
2 (3) Water storage in Rend Lake administered under
3 the Rend Lake Dam and Reservoir on the Big Muddy River
4 Act;
5 (4) Water storage in Kinkaid Lake administered
6 under the Big Kinkaid Creek Reservoir Act; or
7 (5) A lake or pond that has a surface area of less
8 than 5 acres.
9 "Marina" means a commercial business that is owned or
10 operated by a person, with facilities that extend into or
11 over an inland lake or stream, and offers service to the
12 public or members of the marina for docking, loading, or
13 other servicing of recreational watercraft.
14 "Ordinary high-water mark" means the line between upland
15 and bottomland that persists through successive changes in
16 water levels, below which the presence and action of the
17 water is so common or recurrent that the character of the
18 land is marked distinctly from the upland and is apparent in
19 the soil itself, the configuration of the surface of the
20 soil, and the vegetation. On an inland lake that has a level
21 established by law, it means the high established level.
22 Where water returns to its natural level as the result of the
23 permanent removal or abandonment of a dam, it means the
24 natural ordinary high-water mark.
25 "Property owners' association" means any group of
26 organized property owners publishing a directory of their
27 membership, the majority of which are riparian owners or
28 members of a private trust that owns riparian property
29 located on the inland lake or stream.
30 "Riparian owner" means a person or property owners'
31 association that has riparian rights.
32 "Riparian rights" means those rights to the access and
33 use of the water and bottomland associated with the ownership
34 of the bank or shore of an inland lake or stream.
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1 "Seasonal structure" includes any type of dock, boat
2 hoist, ramp, raft, or other recreational structure that is
3 placed into an inland lake or stream and removed at the end
4 of the boating season.
5 "Structure" includes a marina, wharf, dock, pier, dam,
6 weir, stream deflector, breakwater, groin, jetty, sewer,
7 pipeline, cable, and bridge.
8 "Upland" means the land area that lies above the ordinary
9 high-water mark.
10 "Reasonable use" by riparian owners includes the use of
11 the water and associated bottomland for the purposes of sport
12 fishing, swimming, and related activities including (i) the
13 establishment and maintenance of private beaches, (ii) the
14 use and operation of recreational watercraft including the
15 erection and maintenance of private seasonal structures for
16 the launching, docking, and mooring of recreational
17 watercraft, and (iii) the supplying of water for private,
18 noncommercial use.
19 "Commercial" means a business offering the sale of goods
20 or services to the public without regard to their riparian
21 property owner's status.
22 "Private" means applying to riparian property owners or
23 property owners' association noncommercial activities.
24 Section 10. Riparian rights. A riparian owner has the
25 following rights except as otherwise prohibited by law:
26 (1) A riparian owner may place a seasonal structure
27 on bottomland to facilitate private noncommercial
28 recreational use of the water if it does not unreasonably
29 interfere with the use of the water by others entitled to
30 use the water or interfere with water flow.
31 (2) A riparian owner may reasonably sand beaches to
32 the existing water's edge.
33 (3) A riparian owner may construct and operate a
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1 pollution control facility that is approved for
2 construction by the Environmental Protection Agency under
3 the Environmental Protection Act.
4 (4) A riparian owner may construct and maintain
5 minor drainage structures and facilities that are
6 identified by rule established by the Department of
7 Natural Resources.
8 (5) A riparian owner may construct and maintain
9 privately owned cooling or storage ponds used in
10 connection with a public utility except at the interface
11 with public waters.