TURLOCK IRRIGATION DISTRICT v. ALLEN
Filed 6/26/06
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
| TURLOCK IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ALLEN ZANKER et al. Defendants; TOWN OF LA GRANGE, Intervener and Appellant; MODESTO IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Intervener and Respondent. |
F047094
(Super. Ct. No. 272850)
O P I N I O N |
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County. Hurl W. Johnson, Judge
Nomellini, Grilli & McDaniel and Daniel A. McDaniel for Intervener and Appellant.
Cassel Malm Fagundes, Joseph H. Fagundes and Floyd W. Cranmore for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Joy A. Warren, Joel S. Moskowitz; Downey Brand, Jennifer L. Harder, and Joseph S. Schofield for Intervener and Respondent.
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The Town of La Grange (the town) appeals from a judgment partially against it in litigation concerning the scope of the town's right to receive treated water for domestic use and other needs of the town. Respondents Turlock Irrigation District and Modesto Irrigation District (together, the districts) own water rights subject to the town's claim of water rights, and the districts own the delivery and treatment infrastructure through which the town's water is supplied. On the primary issues raised in this appeal, the trial court found that the districts must continue to provide water to the town, but the reasonable cost of treating the water to make it suitable for domestic use may be passed through to the consumer. We affirm the judgment.
Facts and Procedural History
Starting in 1871, the La Grange Ditch and Hydraulic Mining Company provided water for the town through an artificial channel, the La Grange ditch, which it had constructed primarily to deliver water to its dredge.[1] The La Grange ditch began at Indian Bar on the Tuolumne River, several miles upstream from the town. While the Tuolumne River passed through the town, the town apparently never obtained water from the river at any location other than Indian Bar.
In a series of transactions beginning in 1906, the La Grange ditch and portions of the associated water right were sold to other mining companies and to electric power companies. In 1917, the La Grange ditch and the entire right to water from it, 66 cubic feet per second (cfs), became vested in Sierra & San Francisco Power Company (Sierra).[2] In 1920, Sierra sold the right to 66 cfs for a period of six continuous months each year to Waterford Irrigation District (Waterford). That conveyance was subject to the right to water that Sierra, as recited in the contract for sale with Waterford, â€
