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"... 'l ~ -1" . " u~_ 0~; ,-"~ DRAFT 4. Recreation and wildlife, including fish." Unlike the more settled nature of the surface-water law, concern for groundwater conservation in Arizona continued to mount during the 1930's until the legislature finally directed the State Land Commissioner in 1939 to gather information for future groundwater legislation. The result of the action was the passage of the Ground Water Act of 1945, which merely required owners and operators to report, to the State Land Commissioner, data pertaining to their wells and notice of intent before drilling new wells. Although the Act did make the first attempt to provide information about the rate of depletion, it did nothing to lessen or control the excess pumping. The Arizona Supreme Court had repeatedly stated, from early territorial court opinions in 1904 through a final decision in 1953, that perc01ating waters belong to the eu:::face land owner and mav not he approPFiated. Thus, the foundation of Arizona's Groundwater Law was , J established from court precedents and is based on the distinction that "waters percolating generally through soil beneath the surface are the property of the owner of the .soil" and "subterranean streams, flowing in natural channels. between well-defined banks, are subject to appropriation under the same rule as surface streams" (8 Arizona 353). On April 1, 1948, the Arizona Legis.lature enacted the first groundwater code, which was presumably pursuant to the information so acquired from the 1945 Act. This code is found in Sections 45-301 through 45-324 of the Revised Statutes, 1956. The code did not abolish the law with respect to the ownership of the groundwater or the rules of reasonable use, which remain the basic law in Arizona. The most notable accomplishment of the code, in addition to the designation of the rules and regulations for the administration of ground- 4.