South Santa Clara Valley Water Conservation District v. Johnson

Plaintiff water district brought this action to enjoin defendants from impounding water in a dam and reservoir upon their property, thereby withholding from plaintiff water which would otherwise flow into plaintiff’s Uvas Dam. The trial court found that the water collected by defendants’ reservoir was surface drainage, or “storm” or “vagrant” waters and was not received through any watercourse. Based on this finding, judgment was entered in favor of defendants, giving them the right to impound such water on their property.

On this appeal plaintiff raises several issues, the major one being…