Livestock Water Rights in Arkansas: What Every Producer Needs to Know

Water access can make or break a livestock operation, and in Arkansas, the rules governing that access are more layered than most producers realize. The state sits in the humid eastern United States and receives roughly 48 inches of rainfall per year, yet water conflicts still arise — especially during dry summers when streams drop and aquifers feel the pressure of heavy agricultural demand.

Understanding how Arkansas allocates water, which uses are exempt from registration, and what happens when supply runs short gives you a real operational advantage. Whether you run cattle on the Arkansas River bottoms, raise poultry in the Ozarks, or manage a diversified operation in the Delta, the framework below applies to you.

Important Note: Water law is fact-specific and changes over time. This article provides general educational information based on Arkansas statutes and ANRC rules. Consult a licensed Arkansas attorney or contact the Arkansas Department of Agriculture for guidance specific to your operation.

How Arkansas’s Water Rights System Affects Livestock Producers

The water laws of Arkansas are based on the riparian doctrine, which means water rights attach to land, not to individual users who simply need water. This doctrine considers water a common-use resource rather than private property, and attaches a water right to land adjacent to a watercourse — giving all landowners the right to make reasonable use of water on or bordering their property.

Arkansas operates under a “regulated riparian” model that blends traditional riparian principles with a dynamic system of supervision, administrative protocols, and legal regulations. In practice, this means your right to use water from a creek or river running through your pasture is real, but it is not unlimited. The water use cannot unreasonably diminish the quality or quantity of water available to neighboring landowners, and the concept of reasonable use depends on balancing the interests of all the “common owners.”

The landmark Arkansas Supreme Court case Harris v. Brooks, 225 Ark. 436 (1955), set this standard in concrete. The court embraced the “Reasonable Use” theory, placing limits on the right of a riparian landowner to use adjacent water — holding that riparian landowners are only entitled to a “reasonable use” of water, particularly when competing users all need water during drought and scarcity.

For livestock producers, this has a direct practical consequence. A farmer whose land borders a stream can use the water for livestock watering, provided it does not diminish the supply available to neighbors upstream or downstream — and this type of right does not require a permit, but it is subject to the principle of reasonable use. However, once your diversions exceed a certain threshold, registration with the state becomes mandatory. A riparian landowner who wishes to divert more than 325,900 gallons (1 acre-foot) in any given year must register with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC).

You can learn more about broader Arkansas agricultural compliance requirements — including transporting livestock laws in Arkansas and livestock trailer requirements in Arkansas — which often intersect with water access and herd management decisions.

Stock Water Exemptions and What They Cover in Arkansas

Arkansas law carves out specific exemptions that protect everyday livestock watering from the full weight of the state’s permitting and registration machinery. Knowing exactly what those exemptions cover — and where they end — keeps you on the right side of state rules without unnecessary paperwork.

Under ANRC rules, “domestic use” includes the use of water for ordinary household purposes including human consumption, washing, the watering of domestic livestock, poultry, and animals, and the watering of gardens. This domestic-use classification is important because domestic uses carry a reserved water right — meaning they receive priority over most other allocations when water is short.

Any natural uses — such as water for drinking, watering livestock, or watering a garden — are generally considered reasonable under the law. This principle protects small-scale stock watering from challenge by neighboring landowners in most circumstances. The key word is “reasonable”: the exemption does not shield large commercial operations pulling significant volumes from a shared stream.

On the tax side, Arkansas has layered additional protections for livestock water users. Arkansas Code Ann. § 26-52-405(4) exempts water purchased from a public surface-water delivery project to reduce dependence on groundwater used for agriculture. This exemption directly rewards producers who shift away from stressed aquifers toward surface delivery systems — a policy choice that matters most in eastern Arkansas, where groundwater depletion is an ongoing concern.

Act 970 of 2021 provides an exemption for water used in poultry farming beginning October 1, 2021, but before the exemption is allowed, the farmer seeking the exemption must obtain a certificate from the Department of Finance and Administration to provide to the utility supplier. Cattle and dairy operations can also qualify. A cattle or dairy facility, including a milking parlor, milk collection unit, and refrigeration unit, is among the listed eligible facilities.

Pro Tip: If your operation uses metered municipal or utility water for livestock, apply for the DFA exemption certificate before your next billing cycle. The exemption is not automatic — you must apply through the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point (ATAP) or directly with the Department of Finance and Administration.

Surface-water diversions below one acre-foot per year are generally exempt from registration reporting. Water diverted from natural lakes or ponds in the exclusive ownership of one person and diffused surface water are also exempt from registration requirements. If your stock pond sits entirely on your property and is fed by rainfall runoff rather than a shared stream, you have more flexibility than a producer drawing from a public waterway.

How to Secure a Water Right for Livestock Use in Arkansas

If your livestock operation pulls more than one acre-foot of surface water per year from a shared watercourse, or if your groundwater well has the capacity to pump 50,000 gallons or more per day, you need to register with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. This is not a permit in the traditional sense — Arkansas does not issue individual water-use permits for most agricultural users the way western states do — but registration is legally required and creates the documentation trail that protects your priority in a dispute.

The Water-Use Registration Program provides protection to ensure that the state’s water resources are available for everyone to use for centuries to come. Any non-domestic user of groundwater that has the potential to withdraw at least 50,000 gallons a day (35 gpm flow rate), or any user of surface water that withdraws 1 acre-foot (325,851 gallons) or more per year, must report their monthly withdrawals between October 1 and March 1 each year to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture.

The registration process is managed through the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Water-Use Registration portal. When completing your registration, you will need to identify your water-use category correctly. You must first determine the category of water usage for the well or surface water withdrawal site to be registered — “Agriculture” covers water used for agricultural purposes other than crop irrigation, including fish and livestock.

All persons who divert surface water, except as exempted, must report the diversion no later than March 1st for the prior water year. Missing this deadline can complicate your standing in any future allocation dispute, so set a calendar reminder well in advance.

• Step 1: Determine whether your annual surface withdrawal exceeds 1 acre-foot, or your groundwater well capacity exceeds 50,000 gallons per day.
• Step 2: Identify your water-use category (livestock/agriculture) on the ANRC registration form.
• Step 3: Locate your county on the Department of Agriculture’s map to confirm whether registration goes through the state office or your local conservation district.
• Step 4: Submit monthly withdrawal data annually between October 1 and March 1.
• Step 5: File a “no change” or “no diversion” report even in years when your use is unchanged or water was not diverted — the reporting obligation continues.

Transferring water rights in Arkansas is controlled by statutes and involves notifying the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. A water right is inherently tied to the land and can only be transferred along with the property it pertains to, ensuring the rights are automatically transferred with surface ownership. If you purchase a farm that includes registered water diversions, confirm the transfer of those registrations as part of your closing process.

Stock Ponds, Reservoirs, and Impoundment Rules in Arkansas

Stock ponds are one of the most practical tools available to Arkansas livestock producers, and the state has built a regulatory framework that encourages their construction while maintaining safety standards for larger impoundments. Understanding which ponds need permits — and which do not — saves you time and money.

A pond is a water impoundment made by constructing an embankment or by excavating a pit or dugout. Ponds constructed by the first method are referred to as embankment ponds, and those constructed by the second method are referred to as excavated ponds. The NRCS Practice Standard 378 recognizes ponds as a conservation tool applied to provide water for livestock, fish and wildlife, recreation, fire control, and other related uses, and to maintain or improve water quality.

ANRC dam safety rules apply once a pond’s embankment or impoundment reaches a size that creates a hazard to downstream property or life. For ponds that trigger dam safety review, the fee structure is as follows: the application review fee is 1% of the estimated construction cost of the dam or $100.00, whichever is greater, but no more than $1,000.00, and the annual permit fee is $0.12 per acre-foot, but no less than $25.00 and no more than $10,000.00 per year.

The owner is responsible for routine maintenance of dams — including preventing woody vegetation growth — and water control structures. The ANRC will periodically visit to inspect safety and functionality of permitted dams according to their size and hazard rating.

Smaller, privately owned ponds fed entirely by rainfall and runoff on a single landowner’s property generally fall outside ANRC registration requirements. Water diverted from lakes, ponds, and reservoirs in the exclusive ownership of one person is exempt from the standard surface-water registration requirements. This means a typical pasture pond built to water cattle — entirely on your land and not impounding a shared watercourse — does not trigger the annual reporting obligation.

Pro Tip: Before breaking ground on any dam or embankment, contact your local USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office. The NRCS offers free engineering assistance for pond design and can help you determine whether your project requires ANRC dam safety review. Their Arkansas Conservation Practice Catalog outlines the full range of pond construction and livestock water system standards available to producers.

If your pond impounds a flowing stream or draws from a shared drainage, you are likely capturing water subject to the registration threshold. In that case, track your annual impoundment volume and register if you exceed one acre-foot. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff recommends designing pond shoreline slopes at approximately 3:1 — one foot deep for every three feet from shore — which is fairly resistant to erosion, reasonably safe for children and livestock walking the bank, and helps prevent excessive vegetation growth by minimizing water shallower than about 3 feet.

Groundwater Access for Livestock Operations in Arkansas

Even though Arkansas has a lot of surface water, 63 percent of the water utilized in the state comes from groundwater. For livestock producers, this means wells are often the most reliable year-round water source — but groundwater access comes with its own set of rules, and those rules tighten considerably in areas where aquifers are under stress.

Arkansas applies the Correlative Rights Doctrine to groundwater. This doctrine determines rights to groundwater based on ownership of land, but landowners overlying the same aquifer are limited to a reasonable share of the aquifer’s total supply, rather than having an absolute right to groundwater or an unlimited right to pump. This is a meaningful distinction from states that treat groundwater as private property — in Arkansas, your neighbor’s well draws from the same shared resource as yours.

If an aquifer is affected by overpumping, the ANRC may list it as critical. A five-county area of the Sparta Aquifer in Southern Arkansas and the alluvial and Sparta/Memphis aquifers in the Grand Prairie Area in Eastern Arkansas were designated critical regions in 1996 and 1998, respectively. If your operation sits within or near a designated critical groundwater area, additional restrictions may apply to new well construction or expanded pumping.

The ANRC has authority to first designate critical groundwater areas and then, if necessary, initiate a regulatory program requiring that anyone who wants to withdraw groundwater from an existing well or construct a new well within the area obtain a water right from the Commission. Outside of designated critical areas, livestock wells that pump less than 50,000 gallons per day are generally exempt from annual registration reporting — though all well construction must comply with Arkansas Well Construction Commission rules.

The National Agricultural Law Center’s water law overview offers a useful comparison of how groundwater doctrines differ across states, which is helpful if you operate in multiple states or are evaluating a farm purchase across state lines. Producers interested in water-related topics may also find value in reading about the largest freshwater fish found in Arkansas’s river systems, which depend on the same aquifers and waterways that supply livestock operations.

Water Rights During Drought and Shortage in Arkansas

Arkansas’s riparian system was built for a water-rich state, and for most of its history, abundance kept conflicts rare. But drought years test the system, and when they do, the rules shift in ways that directly affect livestock producers.

Arkansas considers riparian water rights in cases of drought or scarcity by implementing elements of “prior appropriation” — meaning those who have established and used water rights before others may have priority over accessing the water during times of shortage. This hybrid approach means seniority matters when streams run low, even in a riparian state.

Regulated riparian permits exist for a fixed period of years, and in times of water shortages, the state may adjust the quantity of water uses allowed — requiring a pro rata reduction across the board or based on seniority. Livestock producers who have registered their diversions are better positioned in these scenarios than unregistered users, because permits may prioritize permitted users over non-permitted users when non-permitted user withdrawals harm permitted users, and riparian landowners who do not obtain a permit within the required statutory time period may see a reduction or forfeiture of their common law riparian rights.

During times of extreme scarcity, the state may declare a drought emergency and impose restrictions on water usage to protect the needs of the community as a whole. Under ANRC allocation criteria, all allocations shall give reasonable preference first to sustaining life, then to maintaining health, and finally to increasing wealth. Domestic livestock watering — which falls under the “domestic use” reserved category — sits near the top of this priority ladder.

Practically speaking, this means a small beef producer watering a herd from a stream has stronger protection during drought than a large irrigator pulling from the same source for row crops. But that protection is not absolute, and it depends on your use remaining “reasonable” relative to what the stream can sustain.

Water Use Type	Registration Required?	Drought Priority	Key Threshold
Domestic livestock watering (small-scale)	No	High (reserved right)	Below 1 acre-foot/year surface; below 50,000 gal/day groundwater
Surface water diversion (agricultural)	Yes, above 1 acre-foot/year	Based on seniority and registration	1 acre-foot (325,851 gallons) per year
Groundwater well (livestock/agricultural)	Yes, above 50,000 gal/day capacity	Correlative share of aquifer	50,000 gallons per day (35 gpm)
Private pond (single-owner, rain-fed)	No	Exempt from most allocation rules	Must be exclusively owned, not impounding shared stream

Building drought resilience into your operation before a shortage hits is far more effective than scrambling during one. Consider diversifying your water sources — maintaining both a registered surface diversion and a stock pond reduces your exposure if either source fails. The Oklahoma State University Extension comparison of water rights frameworks across Arkansas and neighboring states is a useful reference if you want to understand how your rights compare to operations just across the state line.

Producers managing operations near wetlands or riparian corridors may also find it useful to understand the wildlife that depends on the same water systems — including waterfowl and water birds in Missouri, whose habitat rules can intersect with agricultural water management near federal and state conservation easements. Understanding the full ecosystem around your water source helps you anticipate regulatory changes before they affect your operation.

Finally, keep thorough records. Document your water sources, annual withdrawal volumes, and any correspondence with the ANRC or your local conservation district. In a dispute — whether with a neighbor, a regulator, or during a formal drought allocation process — your paper trail is your most valuable asset. Register your diversions, maintain your dams, and stay current with annual reporting deadlines to protect the water access your livestock depend on year-round.