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Show PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS 439 Statutes.- The statutes show the correlation to be not only significant, but vital. It appeared first in the California Civil Code of 1872-the first statute to provide procedures for appropriating water. "The appropriation must be for some useful or beneficial purpose, and when the appropriator or his successor in interest ceases to use it for such a purpose, the right ceases."4 The California Water Code reenacts the constitutional declaration of 1928 that the general welfare requires that the State water resources "be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable," and that the right to use water of any natural stream "is and shall be limited to such water as shall be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served."5 Several statutes declare the historical principle, thus expressed in the Nevada statute: "Beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure and the limit of the right to the use of water."6 Wyoming defines "water right" as "a right to use the water of the state, when such use has been acquired by the beneficial application of water under laws of the state relating thereto, and in conformity with the rules and regulations dependent thereon."7 Texas defines "beneficial use," for the purposes of the statute, as "the use of such a quantity of water, when reasonable intelligence and reasonable diligence are exercised in its application for a lawful purpose, as is economically necessary for that purpose," and restricts appropriative rights thereto.8 South Dakota brings in the element of public welfare by defining "beneficial use" as "any use of water that is reasonable and useful and beneficial to the appropriator, and at the same time is consistent with the interests of the public in the best utilization of water supplies," and declaring that appropriations shall remain subject to this principle.9 Still other legislative declarations expressly tie the principle of beneficial use to the right of appropriation.10 4Cal. Civ. Code § 1411 (1872). Several current statutes contain this declaration: Idaho Code Ann. § 42-104 (1948); Mont. Rev. Codes Ann. § 89-802 (1964); Nebr. Rev. Stat. § 46-229 (1968). sCal. Water Code § 100 (West 1956); Cal. Const., art. XIV, § 3. 6Nev. Rev. Stat. § 533.035 (Supp. 1969); Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 45-101(B) (1956); N. Mex. Stat. Ann. § 75-1-2 (1968); N. Dak. Cent. Code Ann. § 61-01-02 (Supp. 1969); Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 82, § 1-A (1970); Oreg. Rev. Stat. § 540.610 (Supp. 1969); S. Dak. Comp. Laws Ann. § 46-1-8 (1967); Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 7542 (1954); Utah Code Ann. § 73-1-3 (1968); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-2 (1957). This also appears in N. Mex. Const., art. XVI, § 3. 7Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-2 (1957). 8Tex. Civ. Stat. Ann. arts. 7476 and 7543 (1954). 9S. Dak. Comp. Laws Ann. § § 46-1-6(6) and 46-5-5 (1967). 10 Appropriation rights shall remain subject to the principle of beneficial use: Kans. Stat. Ann. §§ 82a-707(a) and -718 (1969). Water may be appropriated for beneficial use: Oreg. Rev. Stat. § 537.120 (Supp. 1969); Wash. Rev. Code § 90.03.250 (Supp. 1961). "Beneficial use means a use of water for the benefit of the appropriator, other persons or the public, that is reasonable and consistent with the public interest, including, but |