In Orange County Water Dist. v. Farnsworth (1956) 138 Cal.App.2d 518, the Court of Appeal considered a similar pump fee. The charge was challenged, among other reasons, on the ground that "the water which underlies real property is a part of the property itself and that the charge in question is, in effect, a tax levied by reason of ownership of the property ... ." (Id. at pp. 529-530.) The Court of Appeal summarily rejected this argument. It found that "the charge in question is more in the nature of an excise tax levied upon the activity of producing ground water by pumping operations" than "a tax levied by reason of the ownership of property." (Id. at p. 530.)