Water Statutes

Follow

• 

  1939 - California Irrigation District Laws, Bulletin No. 18-F

  Beginning in 1919 the Division of Water Resources and its predecessors, the Department of Engineering, and the Division of Engineering and Irrigation, compiled and issued revised editions of those laws to include the numerous amendments and additions that have been adopted to meet changing requirements found necessary under operating conditions. Bulletin 18-F was the eleventh volume and included the text of the California Districts Securities Commission Act and the four district acts that had been most used in creating organizations for the development and distribution of water for irrigation. Numerous citations to court decisions interpreting provisions of the various acts are given throughout the publication following the subject matter to which they apply. Also included are a number of general laws that had bearing on the privileges, responsibilities and duties of these organizations.

• 

  1975 - Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118, California's Groundwater

  This 1975 bulletin summarizes the known technical information on groundwater basins and the extent of their water supplies throughout the State of California. It also discusses the ways in which groundwater basins have been used and misused in the past and suggests better management mechanisms for the future.

• 

  1975 - Sea-Water Intrusion in California, Inventory of Coastal Ground Water Basins

  The primary purpose of this 1975 bulletin was to show, as completely as available information permitted the status of sea-water intrusion, to the end that local agencies could decide where they had to take steps to reverse the condition. A corollary purpose was to show the need for more information on intrusion in certain areas where the situation was particularly critical. The study was undertaken solely to determine the extent and location of sea-water intrusion into coastal basins and to compile an inventory that would assist local agencies in assessing the water supply conditions in their areas. The effort was planned to encourage the formation of a cooperative statewide program to monitor coastal groundwater basins.

• 

  1977 - Appropriative Water Rights in California, Background and Issues

  This paper was part of a series of background and issue papers prepared by the staff of the Governor's Commission to Review California Water Rights Law. The background material was intended to assist persons who might lack detailed knowledge of California's water rights law and procedures. The issues were listed as a basis for discussion by the public and the Commission when it considered various legislative options in response to the 1976-1977 drought which had resulted in increased attention to the value of water as a public resource.

• 

  1980 - Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118-80, Groundwater Basins in California

  A 1980 report to the California State Legislature describing 357 groundwater basins on the basis of geological and hydrological conditions with consideration of political boundary lines where practical. Noting that new groundwater management legislation was needed, the report was viewed as a basis for groundwater management.

• 

  2003 - DWR Bulletin 118 Update, California's Groundwater

  The 2003 update of the DWR Bulletin 118 discusses the importance of groundwater as one of California's most important natural resource, the complex legal and institutional framework in California that shaped the groundwater management system done primarily at the local water agency level, legislation affecting groundwater management, groundwater management programs existing in state and federal agencies, groundwater concepts and definitions, and groundwater basins with a wide range of characteristics and concerns existing in the ten California hydrologic regions.

• 

  2016 - DWR Bulletin 118 Interim Update, California's Groundwater

  This interim update provides an up-to-date to information on groundwater basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft, groundwater basin boundaries, and basin prioritization, information essential to the successful implementation of SGMA (2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act), including the timely formation of groundwater sustainability agencies and the development of groundwater sustainability plans.

• 

  1872 - Appropriation of Water in California, Civ. Code, §§ 1410 – 1422.

  Enacted in 1872, California Civil Code 1410-1422 provided, in part, the right to the use of running water for useful or beneficial purpose, as well as the right to change the place of diversion if others were not injured by the change. In order to appropriate water, a written notice had to be posted in a conspicuous place at the point of intended diversion setting forth the particulars of the diversion. The notice had to be filed with the county recorder within ten days after posting the notice. The works that would divert the water had to begin within 60 days after the notice was posted. Rights to water would cease if claimant had not constructed the diversion works or actually diverted the water. The rights of riparian proprietors were not affected by these provisions