Tag: water rights
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Exploring Equity in California Water Rights: A Historical Perspective
By Audrey Cho This blog post highlights my undergraduate thesis at UC Davis titled Water, Land, and Power: The Legacy of Asian American Exclusion in the California Water Rights System. This blog post sheds light on historical injustices perpetuated by systems of state water management. Its content is informed by interviews with Japanese farmers as…
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Water Right Exactions
By Karrigan Börk Water right exactions are a proposed tool to mitigate costs associated with water rights and water infrastructure that would also help users make better decisions about how much water to use. But first, what are exactions? Exactions are a land use permitting tool used by cities and other permitting agencies to ensure developers…
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California Enacts Major Water Law Reform Legislation–But More Changes Are Needed
By Richard M. Frank Note: this blog is a cross-post first published on Legal Planet. The California Legislature has enacted and Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law SB 389, an important water law reform measure authored by State Senator Ben Allen. California has one of the most antiquated and outdated water rights systems of…
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Considerations for Developing An Environmental Water Right in California
By Karrigan Börk, Andrew L. Rypel, Sarah Yarnell, Ann Willis, Peter B. Moyle, Josué Medellín-Azuara, Jay Lund, and Robert Lusardi This week, news emerged of a State Senate plan that would spend upwards of $1.5B to purchase senior water rights from California growers. Under California’s first-in-time, first-in-right water allocation system, senior water rights are filled…
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A Water Right for the Environment
by Brian Gray, Leon Szeptycki, and Barton “Buzz” Thompson California’s management of water for is not working for anyone. Environmental advocates argue that state and federal regulators have set water quality and flow standards that do not adequately protect fish and wildlife, and have not enforced these requirements when they are most needed. Farm and…
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The hard work of sustainable groundwater management
By Erik Porse Under California’s new groundwater law, local agencies must adopt long-term plans for sustainably managing basins subject to critical overdraft. Preparing these plans will be challenging, requiring collaboration and compromise among water users accustomed to pumping as they please. Local agencies do not know exactly what they’re in for. They’ve never been responsible…
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Making the most of little water — with spreadsheets
By Jenny Ta and Joshua Viers It seems inevitable that increasing numbers of California farmers will see their claims to surface water suspended this growing season as the drought persists into a fourth year. The State Water Resources Control Board said as much Friday (June 12) when it extended drought-related prohibitions on river diversions to irrigators with rights…
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California water rights: You can’t manage what you don’t measure
By Ted Grantham and Joshua Viers California water experts have long known the amount of surface water granted by water rights far exceeds the state’s average supplies. Historically, the over-allocation has not raised much concern; in most years, there has been enough runoff of rain and snowmelt to go around. But circumstances are changing. California…