Any person, corporate or otherwise, vested with the franchise of constructing, maintaining and using, for purposes of transportation, canals or other artificial highways, may, at any time, convert a portion or the whole of the water supply theretofore used for such highways to the uses of domestic manufacturing and commercial purposes, and may to this end, from time to time, lease, sell or convey the whole or any portion of the same.
55 P.S. § 824