Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-02
IRRIGATION AND NAVIGATION.
The Assembly Committee on Irrigation
has agreed on a bill which reads:

Inc Assembly committee on irrigation
has agreed on bill which reads:
The water of every natural stream within
the State of California is the property of the
public, and is dedicated to the use Of the people
of the state. Such water may be appropriated,
diverted and used for irrigation or other bene-
fetal purposes. The right to divert unappropri-
ated waters of any natural stream to such bene-
| hcial uses shall be regulated by law Prior ap-
preparations of water to any such use, whether
heretofore or hereafter made, so long as applied
to such use, or other beneficial purposes, shall
give the betterright to the extent of the amount
OF water actually diverted and applied, and the
right of appropriation shall be exercised under
legislative regulations. Prorided that naviga-
ton in navigable streams under the control of
the United States shall not be impaired. The
English common law of riparian rights, so far as
it conflicts with this Act shall not be recognized
as rule of decision in any OF the Courts of this
State.
Passing other points Of debate, we wish
to ask why omit innavigable stream"
AID substitute natural stream" True,
it is subsequently provided that navigation
shall not be impaired" But the diff
Guilty with that is this, that it Is no limit
alton upon the taking until the point of
impairment is reached, and that can be de
termined only in two ways, at the suit of
some citizen, at law or in equity, or by
Federal interference. The first is costly
remedy, to which the citizen should not be
subjected the second is slow-moving and
doubtful. Why not make the consent of
the Government a condition precedent to the
meddling with nayigable streams and their
tributa-iac TTba+ - .ba x,,Io =: c.:
Italy and France, after ages of experience,
and 1t was the law under the Romans. 1t
is the only just and equitable rule. Under
the bill as proposed, few men may 90 on,
SO far as State authority can authorize
them, and take navigable waters, and Just
at the time that the taking impairs nayi-
cation all others viii be cut off, and thus
inequitable use of the water and unequal
avail of it be the result. Moreover. if
A" takes, and "B" takes, and &C" ap-
propriates, each may contend that his alb
straction is not the cause of the ill flowing
from the aggregation of appropriations,
and thus will be inaugurated new class
of litigation that will involve US for years.
The true rule is to exclude all navigable
streams. Any taking from them or their
feeders should be by pre-consent of the
sovereign only, and thus all possibility of
after involvement will be avoided. The
section, so far as it relates to navigable
streams, is loose-iointed. unsafe. and alto
gether Objectionable, and friends of river
navigation ought TO see that its errors and
dangers are laid bare. This declaring that
navigation shall not be impaired looks
like a sop thrown to the friends of the
rivers But it is valueless, because it pro-
vides 70 means of determining how much
can be taken without impairing naEiga-
ton. L is a declaration without remedy,
proposed statute that has no power be-
hind it for its execution.