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<br />DRAFT <br /> <br />enacted in 1931 and 1933 attempt to provide protection to the <br /> <br />area of origin by making certain state-held water rights subject <br />to future requirements of these areas. 20 The 1931 Act has been <br /> <br />characterized as providing a "right of recapture against the <br /> <br />users of export water, conditioning all export water rights by <br /> <br />giving users in the county of origin a right to recapture <br /> <br />exported water any time the water becomes necessary for the <br /> <br /> <br />development of the county."21 The 1933 Act apparently creates an <br /> <br />inchoate priority to obtain water whenever needed by inhabitants <br /> <br />of the area of origin that would supercede the priorities of <br />existing exporters.22 <br /> <br />20The 1931 provision states: "No priority under this part <br />shall be released nor assignment made of any application that <br />will... deprive the county in which the water covered by the <br />application originates of any such water necessary for the <br />development of the county." Ch. 720, 81 [1931] Cal. Stat. 1514, <br />codified in Cal. Water Code 810505 (West, 1971 & Supp. 19B5). <br />The 1933 statute states: "In the construction and operation by <br />the department of any project under the provisions of this part a <br />watershed or area wherein water originates, or an area immediate- <br />ly adjacent thereto which can conveniently be supplied with water <br />therefrom, shall not be deprived by the department directly or <br />indirectly of the prior right to all of the water reasonably <br />required to adequately supply the benef ic ial needs of the <br />watershed, area, or any of the inhabitants or property owners <br />therein." Ch. 1042, 811 [1933] Cal. Stat. 2643, codified in <br />Cal. Water Code 11460(a) (West 1971 & Supp. 1985). <br /> <br />2lLegal Study No.7, supra note I, at 77 (emphasis in <br />original) . <br /> <br />22See, e.g. 25 Op. Cal. Att'y Gen. 8, 21 (1955): "As the <br />need or-5uch an inhabitant develops he must comply with the <br />general water law of the state... to apply for and perfect a <br />water right for water which he then needs and can put to bene- <br />ficial use. ... Specifically, this means that if. prior to the <br />development of the applicant's increased needs, the authority had <br />been exporting from the watershed in question water required to <br />supply the applicant's increased needs, such use by the authority <br />would not justify denial of the application." <br /> <br />10 <br />