Whenever the terms stream, lake or other body of water, or water occurs in relation to applications to appropriate water or permits or licenses issued pursuant to such applications, such term refers only to surface water, and to subterranean streams flowing through known and definite channels.
Cal. Water Code § 1200
Water Subject to Appropriation
Applied in 12 court decisions — leading case 23 Cal. 4th 1224 - City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency (2000)
Most recently applied in 223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 703 - Living Rivers Council v. State Water Res. Control Bd. (September 2017)
Enacted by Stats. 1943, Ch. 368.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.