WATER FIGHTS ON LOS ANGELES RIVER. 349 



few years has been a blessing in disguise in more than one respect. It has caused 

 the search for underground water which has been so notably successful in many 

 localities, and, still more important, it has taught to thousands of irrigators needed 

 lessons in the economical use of water. There is no danger of anj-body using too 

 much water for irrigation when he has to pay the cost of raising it from deep wells. 

 The same considei"ation for his pocket will prevent the average irrigator from 

 applying too much water, or wasting it in anj' manner, when he has to pay in strict 

 proportion to the amount of water delivered to him. 



Notwithstanding its antiquity, the irrigation practice on Los Angeles River, like 

 that of other sections of the State, in order to secure the best possible results from 

 its water supply and to bring forth the greatest good to the greatest number, needs 

 the supervision of an able and impartial State officer. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



(1) A board of water control should be created for the purpose of ascertaining 

 existing water rights and supervising the acquisition of rights in the future; said 

 board to consist of three members, all of them irrigation experts, to be appointed 

 by the supreme court, and to hold office during good behavior; sessions of the board 

 for the adjudication of water rights to be held as near as pi-acticable to the respec- 

 tive localities affected. Appeals should be allowed from the decisions of the board 

 to the supreme court. 



(2) The court should select as one of the members of the board of water control 

 an able hydraulic engineer, to be known as the State engineer, and who shall be the 

 executive officer of the board in the administi-ation of its duties. 



(3) Riparian rights should be made subordinate in all respects to rights of 

 appi'opriation. 



(4) All unappropriated waters should be declared public property, the statute 

 providing means whereby the right to use the same for private purposes may be 

 acquired by appropriation; such right to become attached to the land irrigated or 

 to the other use for which the water is appropriated, and limited to the actual neces- 

 sities of such use. 



(5) There should be cooperation and consultation between the State and National 

 governments looking to the fullest possible use of the waters of the State for irriga- 

 tion, with special reference to the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Colorado rivers. 



(6) Definition of the work to be done by the National Government as distin- 

 guished from the sphere of State activitj^; the fonner to include protection and 

 extension of the forests, the investigation of better methods of irrigation now being 

 carried on by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the hj'drographic surveys of 

 the U. S. Geological Survey-, and the storage of waters for public lands. 



(7) The right of eminent domain should be extended to include the taking of 

 lands or rights of waj' for canals and other works necessar}^ for the development, 

 conservation, and distribution of water, and the taking of vested water rights for the 

 superior right of domestic use, whether such taking be for public or private benefit. 



(8) The board of water control should be vested with the authorit}' to fix water 

 rates now possessed bj-^ count}' supervisoi's, city councils, or boards of trustees of 

 municipalities. 



