Sweetwater Fruit Co. of California Inc. v. Sweetwater Water Corp.

MARKS, J. This is an action to quiet title to seventeen and one-half miner’s inches of water once pumped from the sands of the Sweetwater River and used for domestic and irrigation purposes by plaintiff. It bases its claim upon adverse possession and use during the years 1898 to 1904, inclusive. The trial court found that the use had taken place but that it was not adverse but with the permission and consent of defendant.

Plaintiff contends that the findings of fact are not supported by and are contrary to the evidence. As particular grounds for reversal it urges that the following findings have no evidentiary support: (1) The use of water claimed by plaintiff was open, peaceable, uninterrupted, notorious and with the knowledge, consent and permission of the defendant. (2) The use of the water by plaintiff was not adverse but on the contrary the pumping by the plaintiff relieved defendant from the necessity of supplying plaintiff’s lands with water at a time when its reservoir was nearly empty and the water [492]supply inadequate to supply its service area, and the use of such waters by the plaintiff was permitted and welcomed by defendant. (3) All the water rights of the Sweetwater River within the Rancho de la Nación, since June 9, 1869, were and are owned by the defendant’s predecessors in interest and the defendant. (4) It is, however, impossible, from the evidence presented to determine the quantity of water so pumped and used by plaintiff.

The properties now owned by the respective parties have seen numerous changes in ownership during the years covered by the evidence in this action. We will not concern ourselves with these changes but will generally refer to the properties of plaintiff as though it had been the sole owner of them and will deal with the properties of defendant in the same manner.

Defendant is a public utility supplying water to its consumers from a reservoir formed by a dam on the Sweetwater River. Its water rights date back to the title of its predecessor in interest acquired in 1869. Plaintiff owns land devoted to citrieultural purposes. This land was furnished with water by defendant from its reservoir prior to 1898 and after 1904. The intervening years were a period of drought and sufficient water was not available to furnish the requirements of defendant’s consumers. Plaintiff installed pumps in the bed of the Sweetwater River and pumped water onto its lands and there used it. After 1904 the pumping was discontinued and plaintiff again obtained its water from defendant. During the pumping period the land on which the pumping was done belonged to defendant. It later was acquired by plaintiff. This deed reserved to defendant all subterranean waters under the land, the right to drill wells to tap these waters and the right to convey the waters from the places where they were pumped to other lands.