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than is needed because an appropriator who pumps a lot of water in times of abundance is entitled to more water in times of shortages. Later rulings established that during times of over- draft pumpers can "prescribe" or seize the rights of another water user by showing that they have been adversely using the other's water "notoriously and openly." Under the mutual prescription doctrine, both correlative and appropriative users can be required to reduce their water use proportionately. The doctrine, however, also expanded the incentive to all groundwater users to increase their pumping to establish a record at use that would grant them a bigger share of scare supplies when pumping is restricted. Subsequently, the courts further limited the use of mutual prescription by prohibiting groundwater users from prescribing the rights of municipal water sup~ pliers with appropriative rights. They also provided ways by which correlative water right holders could de tend their rights trom those seeking to infringe on those rights through prescription. WHAT THE LEGISLATURE HAS I)ONE Some regions, rather than turning decision~making over to the courts, have used more standard legal arrangements to locally coordinate pumping or have sought specific regulatory mechanisms for manag. ing groundwater and controlling pumping. With coordinated agreements, pumpers can agree among themselves to limit their pumping and construct infrastructure for replenishing groundwater. But multi- party contracts are alien dillicult to work out with all of the pumpers using an aquifer. Some general act water districts, while often lacking the authority to directly limit pumping, can construct replenishment works and impose pump taxes and other levies that influence pumping decisions. The districts, however, are not always large enough to include all users within a groundwater basin. Water replenishment districts can be created to obtain supplemental water supplies to artificially recharge groundwater basins or take the pressure off aquifers by meeting needs with more surface water. These districts also have some authority to limit pumping. To date, there is only one such district, the Water Replenishment District of Southern California. Special act districts are created by the Legislature in response to specific concerns, with their powers customized to the problems and solutions of a particular basin. For instance, the Orange County Water District statute provides for the district to establish a replenishment assessment, commonly known as a pump tax. The district also sets a limit on the amount each producer can pump. All produc- ers pay the replenishment assessment on water they pump. Those who pump more than their limit also pay an additional fee known as a basin equity assessment. Revenue raised from the two fees is used to pay for projects that recycle water, cleanup and recharge aquifers. The Legislature has given three other districts authority to establish pump taxes, allowing them to influence pumping without regulat- ing extraction: the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, the United Water Conservation District and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Special groundwater man- agement districts have been established for Fox Canyon, Ojai Basin, Long Valley, Sierra Valley, the community of Mendocino, Honey Lake Valley, Willow Creek in the Pajaro Valley, Mono County- Tri Valley. and five counties - Lassen, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Sierra and Ventura. Periodically, California has considered, but not imple- mented. a much more comprehensive ground- water scheme. Early in this century, the California Conservation Commission considered adding ground- water regulation into the Water Commission Act of 1913. The 1957 Water Plan suggested state permitting of groundwater. Follow- ing the 1976-1977 drought, a governor's commis- sion in 1978 recommended comprehensive but locally based groundwater regulations. San Joaquin Valley farmers objected strenuously to the proposal - asserting fhat they did not have enough ground- 9