Title WAT, California Water Code

Nothing in this article authorizes the sale of any water right. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

No right in any water or water right owned by the district shall be acquired by use permitted under this article. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

Nothing contained in this division authorizes any person to divert the water of any stream or conduit from its channel to the detriment of any person having any interest in the stream, conduit, or the water therein, unless previous compensation be ascertained and paid. (Added by …

Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116275) of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code shall not apply to districts except in specific areas concerning which the State Department of Health Services gives written notice to the district. In areas where the service rend…

Districts may cooperate and contract with the United States under the Federal Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902, and all acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto or any other act of Congress heretofore or hereafter enacted permitting cooperation. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch.…

The co-operation and contract may be for any or all of the following purposes: (a) Acquisition, extension, or operation of works for irrigation or drainage or development and distribution of electric power or any or all of these purposes. (b) A water supply. (c) Assumption as pri…

In a contract made pursuant to Section 23196 a district may include provision for either or both of the following: (a) Delivery and distribution of water for the land in the district under the relevant acts of Congress and the rules and regulations established thereunder. (b) Con…

When a contract has been made with the United States, if so provided by the contract and authorized pursuant to this chapter, bonds of the district may be transferred to or deposited with the United States, at not less than 95 percent of their par value, to the amount or any part…

The contract with the United States may likewise call for the payment of the amount or any part thereof to be paid by the district to the United States, at the times, in the installments, and with interest charges not exceeding 8 percent per year, all as may be agreed upon, and f…

All water, the right to the use of which is acquired by a district under any contract with the United States shall be distributed and apportioned by the district in accordance with the applicable acts of Congress, the rules and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior thereun…

A district may pursuant to the contract sell or lease water for private land, to entrymen, or to municipalities, in the neighborhood of the district. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

When a contract pursuant to this chapter has been entered into between the United States and any district, the district shall not be dissolved, nor shall its boundaries be changed, except upon written consent of the Secretary of the Interior filed with the official records of the…

A district may accept an appointment to collect money for or to act as fiscal agent of the United States in connection with any Federal reclamation project, and the district may assume the duties and liabilities incident to this action and do any and all things related to the app…

Any property owned or acquired by a district may be conveyed by it to the United States in so far as the property may be needed for the construction or operation of works by the United States for the benefit of the district pursuant to the contract. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372…

At any time before a district has incurred any indebtedness or obligation, or after all indebtedness and obligations have been discharged, two-thirds or more in number of the holders of title to an area of land in the distribution district, as appears on the last equalized assess…

The secretary of the district, upon the filing of the petition, shall examine it and if, in his opinion, the petition has been signed by the requisite number of landowners, he shall set it for hearing at the first regular meeting of the board of the district held after the expira…

The secretary of the board shall cause notice of the time and place of hearing to be posted for a period of two weeks next preceding the hearing (a) in three public places in the area requested to be excluded, and (b) in three public places in the area of the distribution distric…

At the time and place of the hearing, anyone interested in the petition for exclusion may appear before the board of the district and urge or oppose its approval. After the hearing, if the board of the district determines that it is for the best interests of the distribution dist…

All expenses incurred in connection with a petition to exclude lands from a distribution district shall be paid by the petitioners. (Added by Stats. 1951, Ch. 145.)

If the cost of the improvements does not require a special assessment in excess of a total of fifty dollars ($50) per acre over an area to be improved not in excess of 1,000 acres, the board may by resolution set a time for a hearing on whether or not to form the improvement dist…

The board shall give notice of the time and place of the formation hearing in the same manner as provided for the giving of notice for the hearing of a formation petition pursuant to Chapter 1 of this part except that the notice to be mailed to the property owners shall be addres…

Owners of the property proposed to be included within the improvement district may be heard either in opposition to or in support of the formation of the improvement district. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

Proceedings at the hearing shall be the same as provided for at a hearing upon the formation petition pursuant to Chapter 1 of this part. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

Upon the conclusion of the hearing to form an improvement district an order shall be made by the board either dismissing the proceedings or ordering the improvement to proceed in the same manner and with the same effect as provided in Article 4 of Chapter 1 of this part. (Added b…

If a formation order is made pursuant to this chapter, the land formed into the improvement district shall, for a period not to exceed five years, be assessed in an amount not to exceed ten dollars ($10) per acre per year in addition to the regular assessments levied on the same …

Assessments in an improvement district formed pursuant to this chapter shall be levied, collected, and enforced at the same time and in the same manner as annual assessments for district purposes. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

The board may draw from time to time from the construction fund and deposit in the county treasury of the office county any money in the construction fund in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

The county treasurer shall receive and receipt for district money deposited with him and place it to the credit of the district, and he shall be responsible upon his official bond for the safe-keeping and disbursing of the money. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

The county treasurer shall pay out district money or any portion of it only to the treasurer of the district and only upon the order of the board signed by the president and attested by the secretary. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

A county treasurer having charge of district money shall report as to it in writing on the second Monday in each month all of the following: (a) Amount in the county treasury at the close of the month next preceding. (b) Amounts received in the month next preceding. (c) Amounts p…

If any issue of refunding bonds are made to mature at one time, the board prior to or at the time of their issuance shall provide for the creation of and payments into a sinking fund for the payment of the bonds in amounts determined by the board. (Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 122…

The amount of sinking fund payments may be modified from time to time by the board. (Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 1226, Sec. 52.)

Whenever the sinking fund contains at least ten thousand dollars ($10,000), the board may publish notice of redemption at least once a week for three successive weeks in some newspaper published in the office county and may publish it in any other newspaper. (Added by Stats. 1943…

The notice shall set forth all of the following: (a) The amount available for the redemption of the bonds. (b) An invitation for sealed proposals for the sale to the district of any of its outstanding refunding bonds for the payment of which the sinking fund was created. (c) The …

All proposals received in response to the notice shall be opened by the board in open meeting at the time specified in the notice or at a time to which the meeting is adjourned. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

Any or all of the proposals may, in the discretion of the board, be rejected. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

If no bids are received or if the bids received and accepted are not sufficient to exhaust the money on hand and available for the purpose, the district through its board may purchase at private sale with any available money in the sinking fund any bonds for the payment of which …

No proposal to sell bonds to the district pursuant to this article at a price in excess of their par value shall be accepted. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

All bonds purchased from sinking fund money shall be forthwith canceled. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

A district shall by levy of a completion assessment provide for the completion of a plan of works adopted and the acquisition of necessary property, water, and water rights therefor when either: (a) The money raised by the sale of authorized bonds is insufficient and additional b…

A completion assessment shall not be levied until both: (a) An estimate of the amount required to complete the plan has been made by the board. (b) A proposal for making the levy has been approved by the voters. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

Before a completion assessment proposal is submitted to the voters, an order of submission shall be entered in the minutes of the board, stating: (a) The amount to be levied. (b) The purpose of the levy. (c) The day of the election. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

Notice of the election shall be given by both: (a) Posting notices in three public places in each election precinct in the district for at least 20 days. (b) Publication in a newspaper published in the office county, once a week for at least three successive weeks. (Added by Stat…

The notice of the election shall specify both: (a) The day, hours, and polling places in each precinct for holding the election. (b) The amount of assessment proposed to be levied. (Added by Stats. 1943, Ch. 372.)

To the right of or below each question on the ballot, the words “Yes” and “No” shall be printed on separate lines, with voting targets. (Repealed and added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 303, Sec. 48. (AB 1512) Effective January 1, 2026.)

The election shall be held and the result determined and declared as nearly as practicable in conformity with the provisions governing general district elections. (Amended by Stats. 1965, Ch. 2019.)