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<br />to the watercourse the right to a reasonable and beneficial use of <br />water on his land (Shirokow, pages 301, 307), but these rights attach <br />only if the water is actually coutiguous to the land. Miller & Lux v. <br />Enterprise Canal & Land Co. (1915) 169 Cal. 415, 441. <br />Riparian rights apply to waters contained in natural water- <br />courses as well as artificial channels that have been accepted by long <br />use and acquiescence as a natural watercourse (Chowchilla Fanns v. <br />Martin (1933) 219 Cal. 1). Riparian rights may extend to non-navigable <br />streams and rivers (Fall River Valley Irr. Dist. v. Mt. Shasta Power <br />Corp. (1927) 202 Cal. 56, 58, 65); lakes and ponds (Turner v. James Canal <br />Co. (1909) 155 Cal. 82, 87-88); the underflow of streams and rivers <br />(Rancho Santa Margarita at 555); definite underground streams and <br />rivers (Prather v. Hoberg (1944) 24 Cal.2d 549); and abandoned or es- <br />caped waters (Lindblom v. Round Valley Water Co. (1918) 178 Cal. 450, <br />457). The same riparian rules and priorities apply to lakes and are <br />termed littoral rights. Elsinore v. Temescal Water Co. (1939) 36 Cal.App. <br />2d 116, 129-130. However, riparian rights do not apply to percolating <br />groundwater, and groundwater is presumed to be percolating water. <br />Arroyo Ditch & Water Company v. Baldwin (1909) 155 CaI. 280, 284. <br />A riparian right does not extend downstream after the water is <br />used and passes the riparian's land. Holmes v. Nay (1921) 186 Cal. <br />231, 234, 235-237. Instead, after use by an upstream riparian, any <br />water that remains must be returned to the natural watercourse for <br />the use of the downstream riparians. Seneca Consolidated Gold <br />Mines v. Great Western Power Co. (1930) 209 CaI. 206, 215-17. <br />Additionally, water cannot be required to flow past a riparian's prop- <br />erty for aesthetics. Meridian, Ltd. v. San Francisco (1939) 13 Cal.2d <br />424, 447. Riparian rights also do not attach to foreign or imported <br />water (waters brought into an area from a different watershed). <br />Bloss v. Rahilly (1940) 16 Cal.2nd 70. <br />Lands to which the riparian right attaches. A parcel of property <br />must meet three criteria hefore a riparian right attaches to it. First, <br />the property must be contiguous to the watercourse, except in the in- <br />stance where a riparian right has been preserved in noncontiguous <br />parcels after the land has been subdivided. The length of the prop- <br />erty's frontage on the watercourse does not affect the riparian right. <br />Rancho Santa Margarita, page 528. Because a riparian water right <br />is "part and parcel" of riparian property, a document transferring <br />such land typically transfers the riparian rights as well, unless it <br />expressly provides that the rights do not go with the land. Holmes v. <br />Nay (1921) 186 Cal. 231, 236. Land adjoining riparian land but not <br />contiguous with the watercourse cannot become riparian simply <br /> <br />Riparian rights extend to waters contained <br />in natural water courses, including lakes <br />and the underflow of rivers and streams. <br /> <br />The criteria for "riparian land" <br /> <br />Chapter 2 Water Rights in California 33 <br />