394 IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



and the control of the establishment of rights hereafter. This board should consist 

 of one attorne3% one business man, and one civil engineer, all of good character and 

 established reputation, to be selected and appointed by the supreme court of the 

 State, and to hold office until removed for cause. The salary of the members of 

 this board should not be less than $3,000 per annum each, and it should be allowed 

 a clerk at a salarj^ of $1,800 per annum, to be appointed by it. 



(2) There should be an executive officer of the board, appointed by it, who 

 should be a competent, experienced civil engineer, and have supreme control over 

 the administration of the water supply and its distribution to the parties entitled to 

 its use. The title of the officer should be "State hj'draulic engineer." 



(3) The State legislature should bj'^ statute declare that the common-law doctrine 

 of riparian rights is inapplicable to the prevailing conditions in California, except so 

 far as to make riparian owners on streams preferred users of the natural stream 

 flow for domestic and stock purposes. 



(4) The statutes of California passed for the government of the appropriation 

 of streams should declare that all unappropriated waters not utilized for irrigation 

 at the date of the passage of the act, either by canals or reservoirs, are public prop- 

 erty, and all irrigation rights to be established hereafter shall be attached to the land 

 for which the appropriation is made. The volume permitted to be appropriated 

 should in all cases be limited to the actual necessities of economical use, to be deter- 

 mined from time to time by the State h3^draulic engineer. Priority of use should 

 give the better right as between parties using water for the same purpose. 



(5) There should be entire harmony and cooperation between the State and 

 National governments, looking to the fullest possible use of the waters of the State 

 for irrigation, particularly in all cases where the diversion of water from the streams 

 may tend to render navigable streams nonnavigable. To accomplish this purpose 

 the National Government should take measures for canalizing the rivers and make 

 slack-water navigation on the streams, thus giving maximum navigability with min- 

 imum use of water. A wise adjustment and determination of the volume which can 

 be safely taKen irom the tributaries of navigable streams for irrigation without 

 interfering with slack-water navigation should be urged upon the National Govern- 

 ment as an urgent necessity. 



(6) The work of the National Government in promoting irrigation development, 

 in addition to the improvement of navigation, should also include the fullest pro- 

 tection of the forests, construction of storage reservoirs for impounding water to 

 be used on the public lands, and a continuation of the hydrographic and topographic 

 work of the U. S. Geological Survey and the work of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture for the promotion of improved economic methods of irrigation. 



(7) National aid in constructing storage works to be chieflj^ used for private lands 

 should be discouraged, although cases might occur where reservoirs built to serve 

 public lands would also be serviceable to adjacent lands in private ownership that 

 had once been owned by the United States. In such cases the use of reservoired 

 water for private lands should not be prohibited. 



(8) The use of water for domestic purposes should take precedence over all other 

 uses. The use of water for the production of power applied to the pumping of water 

 for domestic purposes and irrigation should be recognized as next in right. In those 



