IRRIGATION DISTRICT OPERATION AXD FINANCE. 37 
The California law has always provided that district lands shall be 
assessed at their full cash value, and that water shall be apportioned 
according to the ratio of the last assessed valuation of each tract to 
the total district assessed valuation. In other words, the more val- 
uable a tract the more water it is entitled to. The same rule holds 
in Nebraska and Oklahoma. However, water has seldom been actu- 
ally apportioned according to this plan, for to enforce such provision 
strictly would result in giving a totally insufficient quantity of water 
to a tract of porous soil, with a normally high water requirement, yet 
which might be so low in fertility, or so far removed from transpor- 
tation facilities, that its assessed valuation would be relatively low. 
Other States provide that water shall be distributed pro rata; that 
is, an equal amount to each acre. Still other States, of which Wash- 
ington is an example, require that the board of directors shall pro- 
vide for "the equitable distribution of water to the lands within the 
district, upon the basis of the beneficial use thereof," which is the 
end that most well-conducted irrigation enterprises strive to attain. 
The Utah provision for an allotment by the State engineer before the 
district organization, with a final revision after organization and after 
the amount of water available has been determined, is a refinement 
of this principle in that it embodies a survey of all existing water 
rights, classification of the soil, determination of the water deficiency 
on each tract, and a resulting determination of the amount of water 
to be supplied by the district to each tract. 
Authority to charge tolls for water, which is granted by most of 
the States and which has been taken advantage of to some extent, 
offers a means'of apportioning water in any particular year according 
to the needs of the water users. 
Irrigation districts are often given conditional authority to sell or 
rent excess water to outside lands. 
EMINENT DOMAIN. 
An important power granted by all the State statutes to irrigation 
districts is the right of eminent domain — the power to condemn land, 
water, water rights, and other property necessary to the purpose of 
the district. In California an irrigation district, in common with 
other political subdivisions, may take immediate possession upon 
bringing eminent domain proceedings and depositing the required 
security. California furthermore authorizes an irrigation district to 
condemn the use of property of another irrigation district so long as 
it does not interfere with use by the district first acquiring the prop- 
erty. Under this authorization Waterford irrigation district in 1915 
instituted proceedings to acquire the right to enlarge the main canal 
of Modesto irrigation district for the conveyance of water to the 
Waterford lands, but the case was settled without going to trial. 
DRAINAGE. 
The right to construct drainage works is now generally recognized 
to be as vital to the success of an irrigation district as is any other 
of its powers. Although such provisions were not included in the 
early district laws, the experience of all types of irrigation enterprises 
has brought the question of drainage of irrigated lands very much to 
the fore and has resulted in effecting legal means in practically all of 
