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Show SPECIAL STATUTORY ADJUDICATION PROCEDURES 461 Comprehensiveness of Statutory Adjudication Proceedings As suggested by a number of statements in reported Western court decisions,108 one of the purposes of the State legislatures in enacting statutory adjudication procedures often appears to have been to provide a more comprehensive proceeding for the determination of relative rights on a stream system than might have been accomplished in an ordinary civil action. The comprehensiveness of such statutory procedures has, however, varied from State to State and in various ways.109 The statutory adjudication procedures in a number of States specify that the geographical scope of the adjudication proceeding may include a stream or stream system, or a more or less comparable geographic area. The Nevada statute provides that the proceeding may encompass a stream or "stream system" which may include "any stream, together with its tributaries and all streams or bodies of water to which the same may be tributary."110 The 108See "Purposes of Statutory Procedures," supra. 109 One or more of the following and other variations are mentioned or suggested in the foregoing discussion, in the subsequent discussion of "Statutory Adjudication Procedures in Selected States," and in the State summaries for each of the 19 Western States in the appendix. The following does not attempt to portray the comprehensiveness of the adjudica- tions (with respect to their geographical scope and other factors) that have in fact been made under the statutory procedures in the several Western States. 110Nev. Rev. Stat. § § 533.090 and 533.020 (Supp. 1967). The North Dakota statute, discussed at note 320 et seq. infra refers to a "stream system" without defining the term. The Wyoming and Oregon statutes, discussed at notes 260-263 and 287-290 infra, respectively, refer to streams and, in separate sections, mention tributaries. There are specific provisions in some statutes pertaining to situations where there have been different adjudication proceedings regarding a stream or a stream and its tributaries. See Oreg. Rev. Stat. § 539.220 (Supp. 1955); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-175 (1957). With respect to adjudications of water rights within specified districts in Colorado, see the discussion at note 183 et seq. infra. With respect to legislative modifications in Colorado, see the discussion at note 215 et seq. infra. With respect to whether a "stream system" may include ground waters, the California statute states that a "stream system" includes a "stream, lake, or other body of water, and tributaries and contributory sources, but does not include an under- ground water supply other than a subterranean stream flowing through known and definite channels." Cal. Water Code § 2500 (West 1956). On the other hand, the New Mexico Supreme Court has held that a statutory suit to adjudicate water rights of a stream system includes rights of appropriators of water of an artesian basin who claim that the surface waters contribute to the recharge of their artesian water supply. El Paso & R. I. Ry. v. District Ct., 36 N. Mex. 94, 8 Pac. (2d) 1064 (1931). The New Mexico statutory adjudication provisions include no definition of a "stream system" to which they refer. N. Mex. Stat. Ann. § § 754-2 to 75-4-8 (1968). |
