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Cal. WAT § 1203

This is the official text of Cal. WAT § 1203, part of California’s Water Code — governs water rights and water resource management.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

Any water the right to the use of which is held by any municipality which is in excess of the existing municipal needs therefor may be appropriated by any person entitled to the possession of land upon which such excess water may be put to beneficial use but the right of such person to use such water shall continue only for such period as the water is not needed by the municipality. This section supplements but does not otherwise affect Sections 1460 to 1464, inclusive.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.