Committee On Non Meandered Waters Wants A Week With Proposed Legislation

State lawmakers say they need a week to pore over proposed legislation that declares non-meandered bodies of water open to the public, even over flooded private property.
 
Officials say the legislation could lead to a special session in June, even though there’s no consensus on the bill.
 
New legislation aimed at solving a decades old issue in South Dakota states non-meandered bodies of water are there for recreational use, even on bodies of water over private property. That is unless a landowner states otherwise.
 
In South Dakota, the state holds water in public trust. However, several lakes in the Northeastern side of the state formed in the early 1990’s after heavy snow and spring rains and have never left.
 
The legislation states if a recreationist can access the water legally, via township through roads or public property, they can recreate on it.
 
That includes if a meandered lake spills over into a non-meandered lake over private property.
 
Representative Lee Qualm chairs the summer committee on the regulation of non-meandered waters. He says everyone may be a little upset by the bill.
 
“That’s the way we have to do it, because we cannot be one sided on this. We can’t be all sportsmen. We can’t be all landowners," Qualm says. "We talk about recreation and respect. Those are good words for what we need to do. We need to honor recreation, but we need respect for the landowners who never wanted this water in the first place.”
 
Some critics of the legislation say the bill doesn’t clarify what beneficial use of water in the state is… which was required by a recent South Dakota Supreme Court decision.
 
Lawmakers will convene in a week to declare a recommendation of the bill or not. A spokesperson says Governor Dennis Daugaard supports the compromise legislation and is willing to call a special session if there’s adequate lawmaker support for the proposal.
 
Some lawmakers say that could be as early as the week of June 12th.