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Waters Subject to Prescription. An adverse user may acquire a prescriptive right to any water that can be put to reasonable and beneficial use and in whicb some other private owner has a valid prior right. This includes riparian and undergronnd water rights. Certain connties including Riverside, San Bemardino.Ventura,and Los Angeles require tbat all gronndwater users who extract in excess of 25 acre-feet a year must fIle records of gronndwater extraction each year. Water Code ~~ 4999-5108. After 1956, no prescriptive right shall accrue to any user required to file until the appropriate notice has been filed with the state. Water Code ~ 5003. Moreover, after 1959 the statute provides that failure to file shall be deemed equiva- lent "for all purposes to nonuse." Water Code ~ 5004. No case has determined the validity or impact of late, but retroactive, filings. Prescriptive rights may not be acquired in surplus waters due to a lack of adversity. Individuals attempting to acquire prescriptive title must show that the water they are diverting is not surplus to the needs of the original owner. Potential adverse users should also note that a user cannot prescribe against a right that is not being exer- cised. For example, a riparian may choose not to use the water to which he is entitled for a period of time, thereby allowing the would- be prescriber to use the water for five or more years. Nevertheless, the user may not be able to acquire a prescriptive right because the use does not qualify as adverse. Acquisition of Right Prescriptive rights may be acquired by anyone- corporations, political subdivisions, public service corporations, and individual citizens. Montecito Valley Water Co. v. Santa Barbara (1904) 144 Cal. 578, 594. For example, a bottled-water corporation may acquire a prescriptive right to water it bas pumped from an un- derground reservoir. Similarly, an upper riparian may divert water from a stream for uonriparian, appropriative uses and give the lower riparian notice of the adverse use. Downstream use by a lower riparian does not usually qualify as prescriptive unless the lower use interferes with the upper use, thereby giving the upper riparian a cause of action against the adverse user. Cave v. Tyler (1901) 133 Cal. 566, 567-570. Civil Code section 1007 prevents a prescriptive right from being acquired against a public agency or public utility. Reasonable and beneficial use. Prescriptive rights, like all other water rights, are subject to the reasonable and beneficial use require- ments of the Constitution and may benefit from the policy that the state's water resources be used "to the fullest extent of which they are capable." Cal. Const., art. X, ~ 2. Tbe California Supreme Court Riparians and overlyers may be pre- scripted. In certain Southern California counties. no prescriptive rights may be established by pumping until extraction records have been filed with the state. Prescriptive rights are based on adverse use and may not be acquired by pumping or diverting surplus waters. Chapter 2 Water Rights in California 59