Executive Order N-4-23

State of California | March 10th, 2023

Executive Order N-7-23

State of California | May 17th, 2023

Facts on the Water Rights Question in the Central Valley Project

California Farm Bureau (CFB) | March 11th, 1948

Federal Reserved Water Rights and Groundwater: Quantity, Quality, and Pore Space

Congressional Research Service (CRS) | February 8th, 2018

Tribal rights to groundwater have not been legally established to the same extent as rights to other natural resources (e.g., surface water, timber, minerals). A March 2

Tribal rights to groundwater have not been legally established to the same extent as rights to other natural resources (e.g., surface water, timber, minerals). A March 2017 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the rights of a California Indian tribe (the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians) to groundwater beneath the tribe's reservation in the Coachella Valley. In November 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision; the case now proceeds to other phases that may partially shape this ruling's significance. This is the first case in which an appellate court has held that a tribe's "reserved" rights under the Winters doctrine apply to groundwater. Pursuant to Winters, when Congress reserves land for a reservation, it also reserves a right to water necessary to accomplish the purposes for which the reservation was created. For decades, tribal reserved rights for surface water have been established and have required settlements between the federal government (as authorized by Congress), tribes, and nonfederal users. Thus, some have raised concerns about the implications of interpreting Winters rights to include groundwater. This Insight explores three aspects of groundwater relevant to Agua Caliente: quantity, quality, and "pore space." The legal outcome may affect how groundwater is allocated among tribal and nontribal interests and may influence groundwater allocations at other federal reservations. The Supreme Court has not declared outright that groundwater is subject to the Winters doctrine, but declining to review the Ninth Circuit decision essentially upheld phase one of the three-phase case: a federally reserved right to the groundwater resource for the tribe. Phase two will address whether the tribe has the right to receive groundwater of a certain quality from the aquifer and whether it owns the pore space beneath tribal lands. Phase three will determine the quantity of groundwater to which the tribe is entitled, pursuant to its reserved rights. The outcome of phases two and three could have implications for expanding the scope of federal preemption of state water law. It also could affect how much groundwater is available for nontribal water agencies and water districts and those entities' ability to store water in an aquifer beneath federally reserved lands. Congress has authority over federal water law and could influence this legal framework.

Five Guiding Principles for Effective Voluntary Agreements

University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) | January 3rd, 2024

California has increasingly emphasized efforts to develop voluntary agreements (VAs) with water users as a means of achieving regulatory goals in certain watersheds. In t

California has increasingly emphasized efforts to develop voluntary agreements (VAs) with water users as a means of achieving regulatory goals in certain watersheds. In theory, a VA can combine the protectiveness of a regulatory backstop with the creativity and flexibility of a negotiated deal to produce outcomes as good as, or better than, those achievable through strict application of regulatory requirements alone. However, reality has not always measured up to this ideal. This policy paper uses the Bay-Delta watershed as a case study to inform five principles to guide the appropriate use and evaluation of VAs.

Fixing the Flawed Colorado River Compact

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | June 16th, 2023

Free Water While It Lasts: An Analysis of Wholesale Water Pricing in the Lower Colorado River Basin States

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | December 11th, 2025

The Colorado River is facing a shortage of between two million and four million acre-feet per year (MAFY), nearly one-third of its current annual flow and the equivalent

The Colorado River is facing a shortage of between two million and four million acre-feet per year (MAFY), nearly one-third of its current annual flow and the equivalent of the amount needed to supply up to 30 million people with water each year (Shutt, 2022). Following a century of declining flow and two decades of the worst drought in more than 1,200 years to grip the U.S. Southwest, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is putting pressure on states that draw from the Colorado River to reduce water usage and create a long-term plan for responsible water management. But the price that agricultural and municipal water districts and utilities pay to divert federal water supplies in the western United States disincentivizes sustainable water practices and conservation efforts. In this paper, the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) explored the current state of water pricing for surface water supplies across Arizona, California, and Nevada, the three states comprising the Lower Colorado River Basin. We demonstrate that the vast majority of water sourced through the federal government from the Colorado River and other federal projects is sold or supplied at prices that do not reflect the scarcity of the resource; we also identify significant disparities between large agricultural districts and municipal utilities in the price paid for water at the wholesale level.

French Creek Flow Accounting Study

Scott River Water Trust | May 15th, 2020

The Scott River Water Trust (SRWT) has been working with adjudicated water-users in Scott Valley since 2007 to develop opportunities for stream flow enhancement through t

The Scott River Water Trust (SRWT) has been working with adjudicated water-users in Scott Valley since 2007 to develop opportunities for stream flow enhancement through temporary leases or long-term/permanent dedications of surface water rights. Under the seasonal Water Leasing Program, the SRWT contracts with voluntary agricultural producers to temporarily forbear all or part of their decreed water right(s) during the irrigation season in exchange for fair financial compensation. The purpose of the seasonal Water Leasing Program is to improve conditions for anadromous fish in priority stream reaches during critical life stages and time periods. The Siskiyou Resource Conservation District (SRCD) has been integrally involved with implementation of the seasonal Water Leasing Program since its inception and particularly with the monitoring component. Monitoring of seasonal transactions is generally limited to ensuring compliance with the lease terms and confirming stream response. However, in 2016 the SRWT proposed expanding the scope of effectiveness monitoring associated with the Water Leasing Program based on suggestions from Andrew Purkey and Rankin Holmes of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and their experience monitoring transactions in the Columbia River Basin (Holmes, et al., 2013). Under funding from the California Flow Restoration Accounting Fund managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the SRWT contracted with the SRCD to explore several additional effectiveness monitoring techniques on French Creek including instream water level/discharge monitoring, wetted- perimeter analysis and alluvial connectivity surveillance. The purpose of this additional monitoring was to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of these techniques to stream flow enhancement in Scott Valley and determine whether it would make sense for the SRWT adopt these practices into its programs. The specific components and objectives of the work completed on French Creek included: • Evaluate the instream effect of forbearance agreements performed by SRWT • Establish and maintain monitoring stations throughout French Creek to determine the downstream extent that returned water from various leases had on stream flow and temperature • Perform wetted perimeter analysis on French Creek to develop a relationship between instream flows and aquatic habitat conditions • Conduct periodic fisheries surveys through French Creek to evaluate the relative abundance of salmonids influenced by the transactions • Conduct periodic foot surveys through lower French Creek to establish the temporal and spatial connectivity to the Scott River This report summarizes the monitoring and analysis conducted by the SRCD during the 2018 and 2019 water leasing seasons under the French Creek Flow Accounting Study and provides conclusions related to the applicability of these methods to the SRWT.

Friant Water Authority vs. Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainibilty Agency

Superior Court of California, County of Tulare | February 15th, 2024

Friends of the Earth v. Coleman

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit | March 10th, 1975