SECTIONS 1-26 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 1-26

1. This act shall be known as the Water Code.

2. The provisions of this code, in so far as they are substantially
the same as existing statutory provisions relating to the same
subject matter, shall be construed as restatements and continuations
thereof, and not as new enactments.

3. All persons who, at the time this code takes effect, hold office
under any of the acts repealed by this code, which offices are
continued by this code, continue to hold them according to their
former tenure.

4. No action or proceeding commenced before this code takes effect,
and no right accrued, is affected by this code, but all procedure
thereafter taken therein shall conform to the provisions of this code
so far as possible.

5. Unless the provision or the context otherwise requires, these
definitions, rules of construction, and general provisions shall
govern the construction of this code.

6. Division, part, chapter, article, and section headings do not in
any manner affect the scope, meaning, or intent of the provisions of
this code.

7. Whenever a power is granted to, or a duty is imposed upon, a
public officer, the power may be exercised or the duty may be
performed by a deputy of the officer or by a person authorized,
pursuant to law, by the officer, unless this code expressly provides
otherwise.

8. Writing includes any form of recorded message capable of
comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report,
statement, petition, or record is required or authorized by this
code, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless it
is expressly provided otherwise.

9. Whenever reference is made to any portion of this code or of any
other law of this State, the reference applies to all amendments and
additions heretofore or hereafter made.

10. "Section" means a section of this code unless some other
statute is specifically mentioned. "Subdivision" means a subdivision
of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is
expressly mentioned.

11. The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the
future, the present.

12. The masculine gender includes the feminine and the neuter.

13. The singular number includes the plural, and the plural, the
singular.

14. "County" includes city and county.

15. "Shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.

16. "Oath" includes affirmation.

17. "Signature" or "subscription" includes mark when the signer or
subscriber can not write, such signer's or subscriber's name being
written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the
signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by
mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription
to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names
thereto.

18. "State" means the State of California, unless applied to the
different parts of the United States. In the latter case, it includes
the District of Columbia and the territories.

19. "Person" means any person, firm, association, organization,
partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company,
or company.

20. "United States" means the United States of America, and in
relation to any particular matter includes the officers, agents,
employees, agencies, or instrumentalities authorized to act in
relation thereto.

21. If any provision of this code, or the application thereof to
any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the
code, or the application of such provision to other persons or
circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

22. "Department," unless otherwise specified, means the Department
of Water Resources.

23. "Director," unless otherwise specified, means the Director of
Water Resources.

24. The standard miner's inch of water is equivalent to one and
one-half cubic feet of water per minute, measured through any
aperture or orifice.

25. "Board," unless otherwise specified, means the State Water
Resources Control Board.

26. For the purposes of this code, "recycled water" or "reclaimed
water" has the same meaning as recycled water as defined in
subdivision (n) of Section 13050.