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Show 654 GROUND WATER RIGHTS that rights to use ground water are not measured by whether the water is under pressure, but whether it is in a natural defined flow. Even earlier, in Katz v. Walkinshaw,198 the doctrine of correlative rights to percolating waters was announced by the California Supreme Court in a situation where the waters were held in an artesian belt. The Water Code provides for the appropriation of subterranean streams flowing through known and definite channels,199 which would include artesian waters when flowing in such a channel. The Code defines an artesian well as "any artificial hole made in the ground through which water naturally flows from subterranean sources to the surface of the ground for any length of time."200 An artesian well which is not capped or fitted with a device that can readily stop its flow is declared to be a public nuisance,201 and the owner, tenant or occupant of the land who permits the public nuisance to continue is guilty of a misdemeanor,202 as is the one who allows artesian water to flow or go to waste unnecessarily.203 Each day's continuance of waste constitutes a new offense.204 Hawaii The Hawaiian Code devotes a short chapter to artesian wells.205 It provides that an artesian well which is uncapped or not fixed with an appliance which will readily prevent it from flowing is a common nuisance and the person in charge of such well is guilty of a misdemeanor, as is any such person who permits the waste or unnecessary flow of water from such a well.206 It also provided that (1) anyone drilling an artesian well must first notify (in writing) the Board of Land and Natural Resources of such fact,207 and (2) the owner of an artesian well may relieve himself of responsibility for such well by trans- ferring it to the county wherein it is located.208 This statute has been recently amended to delete the word "artesian" and to apply to wells generally.209 As amended, however, the statute still contains a provision that appears to relate particularly to artesian wells. It states:210 198Katz v. Walkinshaw, 141 Cal. 116, 70 Pac. 663 (1902), 74 Pac. 766 (1903). I99Cal. Water Code § 1200 (West 1956). 200 Id. § 300. 201 Id. § 305. 202Id. § 306. 203Id. § 307. 204Id. § 308. 205Haw. Rev. Stat. § 178-1 et seq. (1968). 206Id. § 178-2. 201 Id. § 178-5. 208Id. § 178-8. 209 Haw. Laws 1970, ch. 123. 210 Haw. Rev. Stat. § 178-2 (Supp. 1970). |