Water Right Decision 1485: Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | August 16th, 1978

Water Right Exactions

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) | May 15th, 2023

Water Rights Decision 1641 (D-1641)

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | December 29th, 1999

This decision is part of the SWRCB’s implementation of the 1995 Bay-Delta Plan. Many of the objectives in the 1995 Bay-Delta Plan are best implemented by making changes

This decision is part of the SWRCB’s implementation of the 1995 Bay-Delta Plan. Many of the objectives in the 1995 Bay-Delta Plan are best implemented by making changes in the flow of water or in the operation of facilities that move water. Accordingly, this decision amends certain water rights by assigning responsibilities to the persons or entities holding those rights to help meet the objectives.

Water Risk Hotspots for Agriculture: The Case of the Southwest United States

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) | July 14th, 2016

The Southwest United States – defined here as Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah – is a rapidly growing region that faces major water challe

The Southwest United States – defined here as Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah – is a rapidly growing region that faces major water challenges. It has the fastest growing population and one of the most economically productive regions of the United States. It is also the most arid region and is prone to long-term droughts. These dry conditions, combined with a water allocation system based on prior appropriation — whereby the “first in time” is the “first in line” to access water — generate tension between stable or declining sectors of the economy that hold the majority of the rights to water and the fast-growing sectors of the economy that have more limited water rights. The Southwest provides a case study of the challenges posed by limited water availability and some of the successful methods used to bridge the gap between water supply and demand.

We Don't Do Groundwater: A Morsel of California Legal History

Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository | January 1st, 2002

It must seem surprising to people elsewhere that California, unlike other western states, continues to treat surface water and groundwater under separate and distinct leg

It must seem surprising to people elsewhere that California, unlike other western states, continues to treat surface water and groundwater under separate and distinct legal regimes, even though everyone today acknowledges that water comprises a continuum through which the water moves wherever gravity takes it.  Moreover, whatever "mystery" there once was about the movement of water underground, and that induced lawmakers and treatise writers to eschew efforts to regulate groundwater, is no longer a hindrance to modern management, as most states have acknowledged. What, then, explains California's failure to bring its water law into line with contemporary knowledge, and with scientific reality? The answer (actually there are two answers) is not very mysterious.

When is Groundwater Recharge a Beneficial Use of Surface Water?

University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) | August 1st, 2018

Any diversion and use of surface water in California requires a water right. Today, to receive a new water right permit, an entity that wants to appropriate surface water

Any diversion and use of surface water in California requires a water right. Today, to receive a new water right permit, an entity that wants to appropriate surface water must file an application with the Board. The Board may only approve an application if it determines that the proposed use of the water is for a reasonable and beneficial purpose. Currently, there is uncertainty about whether—and, if so, under what circumstances—the Board will consider groundwater recharge to be a beneficial use of water. California law makes clear that the act of recharging groundwater, alone, is not a beneficial use of water. Instead, the specific purpose of the recharge is key.

Who makes decisions about California's water?

Restore the Delta | January 9th, 2023

This project collected and created data on California's water managers at the state, local and individual level to determine their race and gender. At the State level, we

This project collected and created data on California's water managers at the state, local and individual level to determine their race and gender. At the State level, we used the State Workforce Analysis to examine the race and gender of water-related state executives. At the local level, we coded about 1500 directors of water agencies for race and gender and then compared each board to the race and gender of the agency service areas. At the individual level, we coded nearly 14,000 individual rights holders for race. The results were not surprising. At every level, the people who make decisions about California's water are more white and more male than the population of California. At the local agency level, boards of directors are 86% White and 79% male. At the individual level, 91% of small named water rights holders have last names that code as White.

Wright et al v. Goleta Water District

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara | November 17th, 1989