Opinion ID: 1170215
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claim to Native Water: Pueblo Right

Text: Plaintiff asserts a pueblo right to all the native waters of the Los Angeles River and the native waters supplying it, paramount to all other claims insofar as such waters are needed by plaintiff for ordinary municipal purposes and the use of its inhabitants within the city. This pueblo right, ascribed to Spanish and Mexican law, has been recognized by a long line of cases, commencing as early as Feliz v. City of Los Angeles (1881) 58 Cal. 73, and continuing most recently with City of L.A. v. City of Glendale (1943) 23 Cal.2d 68 [142 P.2d 289]. The pueblo right has been held to attach to the water needs of inhabitants of areas annexed to the city rather than being confined to the needs of inhabitants of the original pueblo. ( City of Los Angeles v. Pomeroy (1899) 124 Cal. 597, 649 [57 P. 585].) [3] The right has been held to attach not only to the waters of the Los Angeles River itself but also to ground waters of the San Fernando Valley supplying the river. ( City of Los Angeles v. Hunter (1909) 156 Cal. 603, 607-608 [105 P. 755].) Plaintiff now claims that the pueblo right gives it a prior claim to all the native ground waters of the ULARA, including those underlying the Sylmar and Verdugo subareas.