43 USC § 431 - Limitation as to amount of water; qualifications of applicant

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t43/s431"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "43 USC § 431 - Limitation as to amount of water; qualifications of applicant"
title_number: 43
title_name: "PUBLIC LANDS"
section_number: "431"
section_name: "Limitation as to amount of water; qualifications of applicant"
chapter_number: 12
chapter_name: "RECLAMATION AND IRRIGATION OF LANDS BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT"
subchapter_number: "VI"
subchapter_name: "WATER RIGHT APPLICATIONS AND LAND ENTRIES"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(June 17, 1902, ch. 1093, § 5, 32 Stat. 389.)"
---


# § 431. Limitation as to amount of water; qualifications of applicant

No right to the use of water for land in private ownership shall be sold for a tract exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one landowner, and no such sale shall be made to any landowner unless he be an actual bona fide resident on such land, or occupant thereof residing in the neighborhood of said land, and no such right shall permanently attach until all payments therefor are made.

---

**Source Credit**: (June 17, 1902, ch. 1093, § 5, 32 Stat. 389.)

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Imperial Irrigation District of California; Nonapplicability of Federal Reclamation Laws

Nonapplicability of Federal reclamation laws to lands within Imperial Irrigation District of California, see , set out as a note under .

### Section as Unaffected by Submerged Lands Act

Provisions of this section as not amended, modified or repealed by the Submerged Lands Act, see .