It is particularly important in areas where freshwater is scarce, flooding is common, or water is in high demand for agricultural or commercial purposes.
It holds that because surface water is a "common enemy" of landowners, each landowner has the right to alter the drainage pattern of his land (for example by building dikes or drainage channels) without regard for the effects on neighboring parcels, as long as that water flows to where it otherwise would have naturally flowed.
Application of the civil law rule in its purest form would inhibit development of land because virtually every improvement on a parcel alters natural drainage.
[2] Because the reasonable use rule presents a subjective standard, courts will often employ a balancing test to determine whether a landowner is liable to neighbors for alteration of drainage.
The act defines who is responsible for various aspects of land drainage and the different areas in which the law applies.