Chapter 1. General Provisions of California Water Code >> Division 12. >> Part 9. >> Chapter 1.

This part shall be known and may be cited as the Coachella District Merger Law.

The State and the people thereof have a primary and supreme interest in securing to the inhabitants and property owners within the Coachella Valley and adjacent land in Riverside County the greatest possible use and conservation of, and protection from, the waters naturally flowing into the valley from the surrounding mountainous watershed and the greatest possible use of other waters available to the area, thereby assuring that the greatest productivity of the largest possible area may be accomplished and safely carried on within reasonable limits of economy.

Investigation having shown that conditions in the Coachella Valley are peculiar to that valley, it is hereby declared that a general law cannot be made applicable thereto and that this part is therefore necessary for the proper distribution, use, and control of the water available for the valley and the protection of the valley from storm water by the means provided in this part and for elimination of duplication of governmental authority and securing greater economy of administration.

The Coachella Valley County Water District was prior to October 19, 1937, formed primarily for irrigation purposes, and the Coachella Valley Storm Water District was prior to October 19, 1937, formed for reclamation and protection purposes.

This chapter is enacted in part under the authority expressly granted in Section 13 of Article XI of the Constitution of the State.

This part shall be given a liberal construction for the purpose of sustaining any and all proceedings taken hereunder.

Nothing in this part shall impair or adversely affect any right of any bondholder or creditor of the storm water district or the county water district.