Orange County Water District v. City of Riverside

THE COURT.

This is a petition by the defendant cities for a writ of supersedeas to stay the enforcement of a judgment, relating to water rights, pending the appeal from that judgment.

Each petitioner owns water and water rights in the watershed of the Santa Ana River and for many years has diverted and/or extracted water from said watershed for use in connection with its production and distribution of water for public, municipal, domestic and other beneficial purposes. The plaintiff is a water district located within the county of Orange, its main function being the spreading of water on its spreading grounds for the purpose of replenishing the subterranean supply of water underlying said district. The plaintiff brought this action for declaratory relief and for an injunction. The complaint alleged, in brief, that the action was brought for the benefit of the water users and inhabitants within the district; that each of the defendants for many years last past has taken water from basins in the Santa Ana River watershed for use within its respective boundaries; that

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the right of any defendant so to do is subordinate to the rights of the district and its inhabitants; and that unless restrained by court order each defendant will continue to take increasing amounts of such water to the damage of the district and its inhabitants. By this complaint the plaintiff sought an adjudication of the rights of each defendant in and to said water, and that each defendant be enjoined and prohibited from taking any of said water in excess of such right as determined by the court.

The complaint was filed on October 19, 1951. Summons was issued on October 3, 1952, and was served on the city of Riverside on June 26, 1953, and on the cities of San Bernardino, Colton and Redlands in March, 1954. Answers were filed by the defendant cities and the trial of the action began on June 11, 1956, and continued until March 8, 1957. Findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed on June 7, 1957, and a judgment was entered on that day. The court found, among other things, that each of the defendant cities has the right to take and divert from the natural water supply of the Santa Ana River watershed a certain number of acre-feet of water per year, the total amount for the four defendant cities being 36,473.35 acre-feet; that in the years since the filing of the complaint each defendant has continued to take large and increasing quantities of water in excess of these amounts; that in the water year 1954-55 said excess quantities taken by the four defendants totaled more than 30,000 acre-feet; and that each of the defendants threatens to increase its taking of such water and unless restrained by court order will continue taking increasing amounts of water to the great and irreparable damage of the plaintiff district and its inhabitants.