Water Rights

Proposed California Water Rights Legislation

MID and TID's water rights have been the foundation of the Districts' water infrastructure investments like the Don Pedro Project, decades of smart water stewardship and sound locally-managed operations.

Several "water rights modernization" bills have been recently introduced in the California legislature that would have significant impacts on the California water rights system and could permanently harm water supply reliability and threaten MID's local control.

These bills - Assembly Bill 460, Assembly Bill 1337, Senate Bill 389 - seek to dramatically expand the State Water Board's administrative authority in a manner that conflicts with the established water rights priority system California water users rely and depend on.

MID has been working with fellow irrigation districts, water agencies and industry groups including California Municipal Utilities Association and the Association of California Water Agencies to fight these bills and voice concerns to legislators. We're also offering realistic suggestions and highlighting opportunities to bolster and improve administration of the established current water rights system.

Water rights are part of MID's history and integral to our water planning future. While the proposed bills are in the early stages of the legislative process, we'll continue to make our voices heard for preserving and protecting our water rights.

MID opposes the following bills:

• AB 460 (Bauer-Kahan) SWRCB: Interim Relief
• AB 1337 (Wicks) SWRCB: Expanded Curtailment Authority
• SB 389 (Allen) SWRCB: Determination of a Water Right

 

California Water Rights System

Surface water rights are categorized as riparian or appropriative. Such rights are interests in real property, but attach to the use of the water, not to the ownership of it.

Water rights can be used for a host of purposes, including drinking water, irrigation, municipal, industrial and environmental. Nonetheless, all such use must be reasonable and beneficial in accordance with Article X, Section 2 of the California Constitution.

In the case of shortage, the available supply is used by the most senior water right holder first before any water is made available for junior water right holders under the rule of first-in-time, first-in-right.

Since 1914, getting a water right permit from the State Water Resources Control Board is the sole and exclusive means of acquiring an appropriative right.

This system is well-established and reliable, providing certainty and clarity to water right holders. This certainty has enabled the development of significant water collection, storage, treatment and distribution infrastructure and facilities, sometimes conveying water for hundreds of miles to the end user. Over 40 million Californians rely on the infrastructure investments made by water right holders, which have led to California being one of the most prosperous places in the world despite its arid climate and diverse geography.

State Water Board Authority

Especially in times of drought, there have been calls to significantly expand and increase the State Water Board's authority. The State Water Board already possesses broad authorities to administer the water rights priority system, including, but not limited to:

• Water Code sections 1052 and 1831 to address unauthorized diversions. The Board itself has broad authority under Water Code sections 1051 and 1825 to investigate the legality of water use, to determine whether a diversion is authorized, and to cease and desist orders and fines when warranted.
• Water Code Section 1058.5 grants the State Water Board authority to adopt emergency regulations in drought years to implement the water rights priority system and to prevent unauthorized diversion of water.
• All water rights holders who divert water, under any basis of right, are required to measure the water they divert and report that information to the State Water Board, and the State Water Board may issue fines for diverters who fail to timely file such reports.
• Water Code Section 1051 of the Water Code authorizes the State Water Board to investigate stream systems, and Sections 2500-2900 authorize the State Water Board to determine all rights to water of a stream system.

 

Improving the Water Rights System

MID and our Tuolumne River partners acknowledge that recent events and extended droughts have highlighted areas in which the State Water Board, in order to more efficiently administer the water rights system, needs to make improvements, including:

• Encouraging the State Water Board to relentlessly enforce the current water rights system using its already-existing authorities.
• Increasing fines for water users who violate the rules of their rights, take water without right, or otherwise unlawfully harm legal water users. Violations during emergency curtailment should be increasingly punitive.
• Increasing funding for State Water Board staff to enforce the existing water rights priority system.
• Increasing funding for State Water Board data management efforts and digital upgrades.
• Increasing funding for installation of gages at priority locations.
• Encouraging the collection and reporting of California river flow data on a real-time basis.
• Increasing opportunities to use water for groundwater recharge, including increasing the efficiency of the water rights permitting application process.

Additional Resources

Opposition Letters

• MID Opposition Letter - AB 460
• MID Opposition Letter - AB 1337
• MID Opposition Letter - SB 389
• Coalition Opposition Letter - AB 460
• Coalition Opposition Letter - AB 1337

Industry Association Resources

• California Municipal Utilities Association Water Rights Issue Brief