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California Court Clarifies Issues Around Prescriptive Surface Water Rights
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2008.tb09713.x
Subject(s) - riparian zone , negotiation , adverse possession , law , possession (linguistics) , political science , business , law and economics , sociology , history , land tenure , land law , archaeology , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , habitat , biology , agriculture
According to a recent California appellate court decision, lower riparian owners can acquire prescriptive water rights by adverse use, and the acknowledgment of an upper riparian owner's water rights through failed negotiations does not destroy a lower riparian owner's claim to adverse possession. The court addressed two unsettled issues in California water law, including the following: whether prescriptive water rights in surface water may be perfected between private parties; and, whether recognition by an adverse possessor of a record owner's water rights can defeat prescriptive use.