New California law takes aim at injustices in water rights system, but barely

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a rare piece of legislation this weekend that confronts the problems with California’s deeply entrenched, and often unfair, water rights system.

The new law, SB389, gives state regulators clear authority to investigate the validity of water draws by some of California’s biggest and most privileged water users, many of which have long evaded scrutiny due to their senior — and nearly untouchable — water rights.

The state’s water rights system generally lets those who first claimed water from rivers and creeks, including farm suppliers and cities, to take all the water they want while everyone else gets what’s left over. The enduring hierarchy has been criticized for disadvantaging those who weren’t able to get in early, including indigenous people who were barred from taking part.

But while SB389 marks an unusual, and many would say overdue, update to the system, it’s a small one. The legislation was weakened in the face of opposition, and two other bills that also sought to rein in senior water users this year didn’t make it through the Legislature.

Link (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/new-california-law-takes-aim-injustices-water-18415174.php

Highlights from the link:

• The new law clarifies that the state water board can look into pre-1914 water rights and demand information from water users ... should they be found invalid, the agency could strip the right to water.

• Many water agencies oppose SB389 with concerns that changes would undermine vast and pricey infrastructures, built on longstanding water rights.

• Two other pieces of legislation, which complemented SB389, stalled out this year, though they may be reconsidered next year:
– AB1337 sought to codify the state water board’s ability to restrict, or “curtail,” senior water rights holders.
– AB460 sought to streamline the board’s ability to crack down on water rights holders who illegally take water

• Quote, Tim Stroshane, recently retired policy analyst at Restore the Delta, a group that advocates for equitable water distribution. “This is better than getting nothing. I think it can help strengthen the legal basis by which the water board can do its job.”

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About time. Yeah, it is better than nothing. I imagine a lot of senior rights holders are madder than hell. Tough.