74
Opinion of the Court
ing Article Fourth in accord with its plain language can this Court give effect to each portion of the Award. See, e. g., TRW Inc. v. Andrews, 534 U. S. 19, 31 (2001) ("It is 'a cardinal principle of statutory construction' that 'a statute ought, upon the whole, to be so construed that, if it can be prevented, no clause, sentence, or word shall be superfluous, void, or insignificant' ") (quoting Duncan v. Walker, 533 U. S. 167, 174 (2001) (some internal quotation marks omitted)).
Relatedly, Maryland argues that the Award could not have "elevate[d]," Md. Brief 29, the private property rights of the 1785 Compact to sovereign rights because the arbitrators disclaimed "authority for the construction of this compact," Black-Jenkins Opinion (1877), App. to Report, at D-18. Again, Maryland mischaracterizes the arbitrators' decision. In granting Virginia sovereign riparian rights, the arbitrators did not construe or alter any private rights under the 1785 Compact; rather, they held that Virginia had gained sovereign rights by prescription.
Finally, Maryland notes that under Article Fourth of the Award, Virginia must exercise her riparian rights on the River " 'without impeding the navigation or otherwise interfering with the proper use of it by Maryland . . . .'" 20 Stat. 482 (emphasis added). Maryland suggests that this language indicates her continuing regulatory authority over Virginia's exercise of her riparian rights. This seems to us a strained reading. The far more natural reading accords with the plain language of the Award and opinion: Maryland and Virginia each has a sovereign right to build improvements appurtenant to her own shore and to withdraw water, without interfering with the "proper use of" the River by the other.9
9 Federal common law governs interstate bodies of water, ensuring that the water is equitably apportioned between the States and that neither State harms the other's interest in the river. See, e. g., Colorado v. New Mexico, 459 U. S. 176, 183 (1982) ("Equitable apportionment is the doctrine
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