The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design – A New York Times Bestseller About the Architecture and Surprising Stories of Cities

by Roman Mars

MINERAL rights can apply to fuel sources (coal, gas, and oil), precious and industrial metals (gold, silver, copper, iron), and other resources (salt, limestone, gravel, and so on). In many places, these can be bought and sold independently of surface rights. LITTORAL rights can extend outward for properties adjacent to bodies of water, like an ocean, bay, delta, sea, or lake. In most places, there are allowances for usage tied to low or high waterlines that inform private use and public access rights. RIPARIAN rights deal with water that flows through properties, like rivers and streams. Small bodies are generally limited to “reasonable use” with various exceptions and restrictions (to protect watersheds, for instance). Larger ones are usually treated much like public highways. The details get complex fast because interest in these moving waterways is shared by so many parties beyond a given property owner, including cities, states, and other owners with their own rights. Even rain falling on private property can be problematic—some municipalities restrict rain barrel usage on the grounds that retaining water denies rights to potential water usage for people who live downstream.