That's correct, water rights can be severed just like oil and gas. However, in some areas there are water conservation districts that regulate the amount withrawn by from a given reservoir by the users and also the water quality in the aquifer recharge zone. Last year I worked quite a bit in Hudspeth County, Texas , about 70 to 100 mikles due east of El Paso. The city of El Paso would pay $3500 per acre for established water rights in the Victorio Peak-Bone Springs aquifer on the west flank of Guadalupe Mountain National Park, while the land surface sold for $50 to $300 dollars per acre with no rights except for a household well or a stock well. Anshutz was the company purchasing water rights out there too.
Bob Ebersole