State Water Resources Control Board

Agency History

The Water Commission Act of 1913, Chapter 586 of Statutes 1913, created California's first water rights governing agency, the State Water Commission. Prior to this law, any or every person could freely begin work to divert and use (beneficially or otherwise) water in California. This commission began operation immediately and consisted of five persons who sought to arbitrate the incessant disputes created by California's dual water rights system. The governor of California, the state engineer, and three members appointed by the governor to four year terms made up the five member commission (Chapter 586, Statutes 1913). According to the law, the three members appointed by the governor should have ample "knowledge and experience in the application and use of waters for irrigation, mining, and municipal purposes" with at least one of them familiar with water use for agricultural purposes (Chapter 586, Statutes 1913). The State Water Commission initiated procedures to issue permits and licenses, most of which are still in use today.

The State Water Commission served a fourfold purpose. The Water Commission's functions included investigation and fact development concerning water sources, regulating the acquisition of rights to appropriate water, providing a feasible method for the comprehensive determination of existing rights, and supervising the distribution of water among those entitled to use it in accordance with the indomitable right of each user ("Administration of Water Rights in California," California Law Review 44, Dec. 1956, P.834).

The State Water Commission existed until 1921 when California's Legislature passed an act (Chapter 607 Statutes 1921), which created the Department of Public Works. The Department of Public Works succeeded to the duties, powers, and jurisdiction of the State Water Commission. According to the Department of Public Works first Biennial Report, "By the terms of this statute the State Water Commission, as such, was abolished and its functions and duties under the Water Commission Act became the functions and duties of one of the divisions of the new Department of Public Works, namely, the Division of Water Resources" (Report of Division of Water Rights of State Department of Public Works, P.7). This office functioned under the definitions of and the authorities conferred by the Water Commission Act with the added task of acquiring and distributing new vested rights for use of water, while protecting the water rights of those presently vested.

In the mid-1950s, California's Legislature worked toward reorganizing the agencies then responsible for administering water law. In 1956, a law passed that mandated that many functions of the aforementioned Division of Water Resources pass to the State Water Rights Board. Created on July 5, 1956, by Chapter 52, Statutes 1956, the State Water Rights Board consisted of three members called upon to administer water rights as derived from the Water Commission Act. This legislation also created the Department of Water Resources and abolished the Division of Water Resources of the Department of Public Works. The newly established Department of Water Resources absorbed the duties and functions pertaining to water resources not expressly given to the State Water Rights Board. Nevertheless, the State Water Rights Board existed and operated as an independent entity, not bound to the Department of Water Resources.

Law required the Board be made up of one chair, one legal representative, and one engineer. These three members were appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. The first three to make up the Board included Henry Holsinger, the Chair and Attorney for the Board, John B. Evans, and W.P. Rowe, the Board's chief engineer. Additionally, the State Water Rights Board received assistance in application processing, adjudication, and investigation of water rights from associate engineers, legal representatives, and administrative staff in various sectors of the government.

The duties and functions passed on to the State Water Rights Board were derived from the Water Commission Act. The initial annual report of the board noted that it maintained the "sole responsibility of the following laws: (1) The Appropriation of unappropriated water through the permit and license procedure (Water Code, Division 2, Part 2); (2) Assistance to the courts and parties in adjudication of water rights (Water Code, Division 2, Part 3); and (3) Administration of an act enacted by the 1955 Legislature concerning recordation of data relating primarily to use of ground water" in Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties (State Water Rights Board, Annual Report to Governor, 1957, p. 4-5). Additional general purposes and objectives of the Board consisted of furthering the orderly development of the state's water resources in the public interest as provided in the Statutes assigned to it for administration (State Water Rights Board, Annual Report to Governor, 1957, p. 7). A most important feature during the Board's tenure remained its functions to coordinate water use and adjudicate water usage and rights disputes for improved decision making regarding water usage. State Water Rights Board acted as referees, or mediators, to settle disputes. Hearings held by the Board sought to resolve matters brought forth, but when an agreement could not be reached, the Board provided the Court an initial determination or opinion on any particular water rights dispute.

In the mid to late 1960s, the impact of water quality on the state's constituents received increasing attention. Water quality administration remained lackluster. The Assembly Water Committee convened to sort through the problem and discovered that a coordinated water regulatory program combining water rights administration and water quality administration could help solve many of California's water issues. Thus in 1967, the legislature enacted these changes and fused the State Water Rights Board and the State Water Quality Control Board to create the State Water Resources Control Board (History of State Water Resources Control Board, P.4). The new board's mandate followed similar lines of previous water rights entities with the addition of an arduous task of balancing competing water needs of the public and private sectors as well as water resources for domestic, agricultural, industrial, or electrical purposes.

California's problems and challenges concerning water usage and water rights continue to rise as the population rises and viable water sources diminish. Nevertheless, a quote from Hugh W. Ferrier's article in 1956 remains valid. Ferrier noted, "The work of the State Water Rights Board and its predecessors in water rights administration has been and is for sometime anticipated to be in major part concentrated upon the administration of the law regulating appropriation of water" ("Administration of Water Rights in California," California Law Review 44, Dec. 1956, P.834). The State Water Rights Board, like its predecessor and successor agencies, firmly established administrative law in the field of water rights by reviewing and mediating disputes and supervising the efficient utilization of the state's most precious and limited resource. Continued efficient administration of California's water resources remains pertinent in a place where demand heavily outweighs supply and where the state's enormous population and economy unremittingly rely on the availability of water.

From the guide to the Records of the State Water Rights Board, 1915-1986, (California State Archives)