Water Code, 1943

A watermaster may arrest a person who violates this chapter or Chapter 4 and must then deliver the person to county law enforcement and immediately file a complaint with a magistrate.

A holder of title to land liable to assessment may contest an election held under this division.

Election contests under this section are filed in the superior court of any affected county and follow the Elections Code procedures.

The court must decide at the hearing whether the election was fairly conducted and substantially complied with this division.

A contest must be brought within 20 days after the result is declared.

Either party of record may appeal the judgment within 30 days after entry of judgment.

The Supreme Court must hear and decide the appeal within 60 days after the notice of appeal is filed.

A weather resources management project operator must keep detailed records of operations and file an evaluation report with the department on schedule.

The department may spend money and make expenditures needed to administer any service area and distribute water in it.

Owners of rights to divert or store water within the service area must pay all costs of administering the service area and distributing water there.

When a district is organized, the board must prepare examinations, surveys, plans, specifications, and cost estimates, and make a report.

The board may use and adopt previous estimates, surveys, reports, and other data it has or acquires.

The board may issue warrants to cover project examination, survey, plan, specification, and estimate costs, payable from district funds and possibly included in authorized bond issues.

The board may split plans, specifications, and cost estimates into construction units and decide when those units will be started.

If the project is divided into construction units and some are reserved for future construction, the board must pass a resolution when it decides to build any unit.

If the board decides to construct a unit, it may amend that unit’s plans, specifications, and cost estimates.

The department must prepare a statement for each service area before June 15 each year.

If the board plans to acquire district property by purchase, lease, or another method other than condemnation, it must say so in its report and include a true copy of any related acquisition instrument.

A district generally may not acquire property of a water corporation that is a public utility, or include that property in its board report, unless the Public Utilities Commission has authorized the sale and related service changes; an eminent domain acquisition is excepted.

The board must file a certified copy of any Public Utilities Commission order with its report, and the report is not sufficient unless the order finds and declares the required consumer-benefit and fairness findings.

The budget must include specified expenses, an annual watermaster report cost, a contingency estimate, and other administration or water distribution costs.

The statement must also include an apportionment of the budget amount among owners of rights to store or divert in the service area.

After the board finishes examining and studying the proposed project, it must prepare and file a report with the secretary.

The report must include detailed information about the proposed works, required water and land rights, plans and specifications, and project cost estimates.

If the board splits the project plans into more than one construction unit before filing its report, it must make each unit’s plans and estimates complete and identify which units start immediately and which are reserved for later.

If two or more people own a water right, they must pay according to their respective interests, and the department’s statement must show the apportionment when those interests are known.

If a district board does not file its report within 10 years after the organizing order is filed, the project is deemed abandoned and the board must pay district debts and claims and return remaining funds within 90 days.

The board may decide by resolution that only part of the district will benefit, and if it does, it must hold a hearing on that question and on whether to establish an improvement district for that portion.

The board must set the time and place for the hearing and publish notice of it twice, once a week for two consecutive weeks.

The board must continue the hearing when scheduled or resumed, and interested persons may attend and raise material matters.

After the hearing, the board must decide whether all or part of the district will benefit from the project or unit. If only part will benefit, the board may create an improvement district for that portion.

The board’s determination establishing an improvement district is final and conclusive.

After an improvement district is established, project-related proceedings, elections, assessments, and bonds or warrants are limited to that improvement district.

An improvement district is run by the district board and officers, cannot have its own officers or employees, and the board and officers have the same rights, powers, and privileges for the improvement district as they have for the parent district.

This section makes most of the cited district-project provisions apply to an improvement district, with specified exceptions, and gives the district’s board and officers the same powers for the improvement district.

If the board recommends abandoning the project, it may call a special election in the district.

If the board calls a special election under Article 1, it must give notice of the election within 30 days.

The notice must be published once a week for at least three weeks before the election in each affected county.

For a special election, the board must establish a convenient number of election precincts and set their boundaries.

When calling the election, the board must designate voting places and appoint three district landholders to serve as a board of election at each place.

The election must be conducted as closely as practicable under the division’s general-election rules, and no specific ballot form is required.

Voters at the election must meet the same qualifications as for the formation election.

The board must canvass the election votes and record the special election result in its minutes.

If the election canvass shows enough support for completion of the project, the board must appoint the commissioners and continue with the procedures for assessments and project completion.

If the project is not approved at the election, the board may modify it or propose a new one. If no revised report is prepared within six months of the election, the board must enter an order declaring the project abandoned.

After an abandonment order, most claimants must file their claims and vouchers with the district within three months.

The board must publish notice of the order requiring presentation of claims in the relevant county once a week for four successive weeks, starting within 10 days after the order is made.

After payment of all presented warrants and approved claims, the board must file a certified copy of the order declaring the project abandoned with each affected county recorder.

After the order copy is filed, the district is dissolved.

When the copy of the order is filed, liens attached to land under this division are discharged and any undertakings given are annulled.

The service-area budget is split so one-tenth is shared equally among all water-right ownerships, and the remaining nine-tenths is shared based on each owner’s entitlement to store or divert water, unless this article says otherwise.

Owners of certain direct-flow, nonstorage water rights must share only in one-tenth of the service-area budget and do not share in the remaining nine-tenths.