North Kern Water Storage Dist. v. State Wat. Resources Cont. Bd. CA5

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

General Background In general terms, a person or entity not owning property along a stream or river could, prior to 1914, establish a right to use available water in the stream or river by giving notice of a claim and actually using the water. (See Hutchins, The Cal. Law of Water Rights (1956) p. 86 et seq.) These pre-1914 rights have come to be known as nonstatutory rights of appropriation. (Id. at p. 86.) (The law governing riparian use is different (id. at pp. 52-56); this case does not involve riparian rights, i.e., the rights

2. accruing to property owners because their property abuts the river (see id. at p. 179 et seq.).) In 1914, the Water Commission Act went into effect. Thereafter, the right to appropriate water could only be established through a statutory procedure. (Hutchins, The Cal. Law of Water Rights, supra, at pp. 94-95.) The Water Commission Act is now codified in the Water Code at sections 100 to 4407.1 The procedure for granting statutory rights to appropriate water is administered by a body now known as the State Water Resources Control Board, respondent in this appeal (hereafter respondent or the board). (See § 174; Hutchins,…