Water Rights in California

1
Water Rights in California
2
Types of Surface Water Rights

• Pueblo
• Riparian
• Federal Reserved
• Appropriative
• Pre-1914
• Post-1914
• Prescriptive
• Adjudicated

3
Riparian Rights

• Property must abut the source stream
• Water used must be the natural flow
• Water may not be imported from another stream
• water may not be collected during a time of
  plenty and stored for use during a time of
  deficiency
• Place of use must be in the watershed of the
  stream source

4
Riparian Rights

• Rights are correlative
• Right attaches to land when the land is patented
• Continuous us of water not required
• Does not require a permit from the SWRCB
• Disputes must be resolved in court

5
Appropriative Right

• For diversion of water on parcels that do not
  abut a stream
• For storage of water on any parcel
• First in Time -- First in Right
• Can be sold
• Can not be increased
• Can be lost after 5 years of nonuse (forfeiture
  v. abandonment)

6
Pre-1914 Appropriative Right

• Right must have been initiated before December
  19, 1914
• Does not require a permit from the SWRCB
• Limited to quantity of water used in 1914

7
Post-1914 Appropriative Right

• Requires a permit/license from SWRCB
• Issued for the appropriation of Unappropriated
  Water (defined in WC1202)
• Cannot be issued on a fully-appropriated stream

8
State Water Board Authority

• Post-1914 Appropriative Right
• Compliance and Enforcement
• Water Right Changes
• Transfers
• Fee Assessment

9
Pueblo Rights

• Paramount right of a city as the successor to a
  Mexican or Spanish Pueblo
• Right to entire flow of streams within the pueblo
• Two Confirmed
• Los Angeles
• San Diego

10
Pueblo Rights--Prerequisites

• City must be the successor to a Mexican or
  Spanish Pueblo
• The City must have presented its claim before the
  Board of Land Commissioners pursuant to the Act
  to Ascertain and Settle the Private Land Claims
  in the State of California and the claim must
  have been validated by the Board

11
Federal Reserved

• Only apply to Federal Land Reservations
• Forest Lands
• Indian Reservation
• Water can only be used for the purpose of the
  reservation

12
Prescriptive Right

• Legalized theft
• Cannot prescript the State (People v. Shirokow)
• Use must be
• Actual
• Open and Notorious
• Adverse
• Under Claim of Right
• Continuous and uninterrupted for 5 years

13
Adjudicated

• Court Reference (WC2000et seq)
• applies only to the named parties
• riparian rights can be quantified
• Statutory (WC2500 et seq)
• Applies to all water users
• riparian rights can be subordinated
• riparian rights are quantified

14
Types of Groundwater Rights in California

• Overlying
• Appropriative
• Adjudicated