10 BULLETIN 913, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



reports. Water rights in such companies are represented by stock 

 in the companies, and each share of stock entitles its holder to a share 

 of the total supply of water belonging to the company rather than 

 to any fixed quantity. Water is not delivered in proportion to the 

 acreage but in proportion to the stock owned, although there is a 

 tendency for stock to be held in proportion to acreage. The cost of 

 operation and maintenance is raised by assessments on stock, and the 

 laws of many of the States provide that companies may sell the stock 

 of parties who fail to pay assessments, levied on their stock. Usually 

 the stock may be rented, and the lessee may draw the water repre- 

 sented by the stock. In this respect, a right represented by stock 

 in a mutual company differs materially from rights in other com- 

 panies or districts. In the latter enterprises the water may be used 

 only on particular tracts of land and if it is not used on those tracts 

 the owners are not permitted to draw it or dispose of it in any way. 

 The plans of enterprises of all the other classes mentioned, except 

 irrigation districts, contemplate that eventually they will become 

 joint stock companies of the type just described, or irrigation dis- 

 tricts. This change is discussed in connection with the discussion 

 of the other types of enterprises. 



IRRIGATION DISTRICTS. 



In irrigation districts a right to water is an incident to ownership 

 of land within the boundaries of a district and goes with the land. 

 Each acre of land in a district is entitled to its share of the water 

 supply of the district, whatever that supply may be. Here the quan- 

 tity of water which will be received depends entirely upon the re- 

 lation between the quantity available and the acreage of land in the 

 district. Thus an examination of the water right of the district itself 

 is the only means of forming an idea of the value of the right. 

 Every district has a nominal water supply of a certain quantity for 

 each acre in the district, but, as pointed out, this may be only nomi- 

 nal. The actual supply may be much less. 



In districts there is no purchase of a water right, as such, but 

 merely the purchase of land. Districts issue bonds to obtain funds 

 for securing a water supply, and taxes are levied to raise funds to 

 pay the bonds and interest and the cost of operation and mainte- 

 nance. These taxes, if unpaid, become a lien on the land, and the 

 amount of bonds which must be paid off by each acre of land is in 

 effect the price of a water right for that acre, although it may 

 not be called that. At present (1920) there is a very strong tendency 

 to reorganize enterprises of other types, particularly United States 

 reclamation projects, into districts. 



