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Hr* G. A. Cunningham 2- V2V58 the date of last publication of the notice, any interested person may file a protest* The protest must set forth the grounds upon which it is based and must be verified. The State Engineer is to consider the question and may hold hear­ings if he desires to do so. If he. do so, both parties must be given fifteen days* previous notice of ary hearing* The State Engineer is obligated to approve all applications proper­ly made where the proposed use of the water "does not tend to inpalr the value of existing rights, or to be otherwise detri­mental to the public welfare**’ Of course if it can be satis­factorily shown that the proposed use does impair existing rights or is otherwise detrimental to the public welf are, the State Engineer is obligated to reject the permit* In view of the length of time which it would take for the contractor in our case to get a permit to use the water from the well which he is drilling, I suspect he must have in mind going ahead and using the water without obtaining the permit. If he were to do that, this would fee a violation of the statute and would constitute a misdemeanor, punishable fey not less than ten days nor more than six months in the County jail, or not less than $25 nor more than $250 fine* The State Engineer is given authority to make arrests in order to enforce this provision of the la^* In addition to such use of the water without permit feeing a misdemeanor, it is my opin­ion that -we could obtain an injunction against the contractor * s continuing to use the water until he obtains a permit to do so* There are certain other factors in this whole situa­tion which should be given due consideration in shaping any future course of action. In the first place, it is understood that there are two railroad wells at Dry Lake and that Well Ho. 1 is the well which we are using and have used for a number of years solely for domestic use of section forces at Dry Lake, together with some use for locomotives* As I understand it, only about 15,000 gallons of water per day have customarily been used by the Railroad from this well* The Nevada water law provides that failure for five successive years on the part of the holder of any right, whether it be an adjudicated right, or a permitted right, to use beneficially all or any part of the underground waters for the purpose for which such right shall be acquired or claimed, shall work a forfeiture of the right to the use of such water to the extent of such non use. In my opin­ion, this means that although this well was drilled prior to March, 1513, when the Basic Water Law of Nevada was enacted, and although we therefore have a "vested right" to develop water from this well, nevertheless that vested right has been abandoned