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<br />(llll~lS8 <br /> <br />Furthermore. while the bulk of water rights In Western States <br /> <br />." I s based on "appropr I at Ion" -- putt I ng the water to actua I use -- some <br /> <br />states recognize riparian as well as approprIative rights. In such <br /> <br />states the courts have sometimes held that a rIparian landowner's water <br /> <br />rights do not depend upon actual use.201 In these situations. the exis- <br /> <br />tence of unadjudlcated riparian rIghts under state law creates the same <br /> <br />uncertainty as the federal reserved rIght. and poses the same posslbl Ilty <br /> <br />of vested but unexercised riparian rights Interfering with other water <br /> <br />rights "vested" under other provisions of state law. <br /> <br />ThIrd, some states do not regulate or even al low for the possl- <br /> <br />blllty of recording groundwater withdrawals. Identifying and quantl- <br /> <br />fylng federal rights to groundwater In such states cannot be done <br /> <br />In relation to. or In cooperation with. existing state systems <br /> <br />because such systems do not exist. <br /> <br />Therefore. whIle the Task Force believes that a systematic effort <br /> <br />to eliminate uncertainty over federal reserved rIghts Is a necessary <br /> <br />undertak lng, It will not elIminate all uncertainty over water rights <br /> <br />In the arid Western States. In many areas, state water law and Its <br /> <br />administration themselves create far more uncertainty, whIch can only <br /> <br />be eliminated by reforming state law. <br /> <br />201 See.~. In Re Waters of Lonq Valley Creek System, 84 Cal. App. <br />3d 14o-TCal. Ct. App. 1978), appeal pendlnq, Cal. Sup. Ct. <br /> <br />-18- <br />