South Santa Clara Valley Water Conservation District v. Santa Clara Valley Water District

Plaintiff, South Santa Clara Valley Water Conservation District (hereafter South District), appeals from a summary judgment in *855 favor of defendant, Santa Clara Valley Water District (hereafter District).

The relevant facts are undisputed: Plaintiff South District was created in 1938 under the grant of authority of a general act, the Water Conservation Act of 1931. (Stats. 1931, ch. 1020, p. 2045.) Plaintiff’s territory and all of its works are located in the southern part of Santa Clara County. Two other water conservation districts, located in other areas of Santa Clara County, were also formed under the Water Conservation Act of 1931.

Defendant District was created in 1951 under the Santa Clara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Act (Stats. 1951, ch. 1405, p. 3337), a special act. Initially, the act provided that defendant District should consist of all the territory of Santa Clara County except for the territory within the boundaries of the three existing water conservation districts. (Stats. 1951, ch. 1405, § 2, p. 3337.) However, in 1952, the act was amended to eliminate this exclusion and to provide that defendant District should consist of…