Louie Brown Kahn, soares & conway, llp Water Rights 101 Louie Brown Kahn, soares & conway, llp

Basic Water Rights Riparian – land with water Prior appropriation – First in time; First in Right

Riparian English Common Law Appurtenant to Land – the Right to divert water from a water body adjoining land for use on the adjoining land. Part of the bundle of rights that runs with the land. If land is severed from the water body, the riparian right may be lost unless preserved by title. Reasonable use Not lost through non-use

Prior Appropriation Western law Perfection of right through posting a notice at place of diversion Priority based upon first in time; first in right May be forfeited May require a State Permit

1914 Pre- Appropriative right that pre-dates the State Water Resource Control Board’s authority to regulate the State’s water supply Post – State develops a process for recognizing appropriative water right. Permits issued which include Point of diversion Time period when diversion can take place Quantity of water that can be diverted Intended place of use Intended purpose of use

Top 20 water rights holders in CA Government holds 10 of top 20 with US Bureau of land management holding more rights than all other entities combined. Sierra Pacific Industries City of LA Dept of Water & Power PG&E Diamond Lands Corporation

Contracts Not a water right Contract between the water right holder and another entity that will take the delivery of water diverted by means of the water right Exchange 1993 - CVP Settlement CVP

Groundwater Overlying Pumper Non-overlying Pumper Prescriptive rights Analogous to riparian rights in a stream Correlative Non-overlying Pumper Analogous to appropriative rights First in time; first in right Prescriptive rights Adverse possession – 5 year prescriptive period Prescriptive right cannot be obtained against public agency Federal reserved rights Armed Forces bases Native American tribal lands

Curtailment Orders 2015 – first time since the 1976-77 drought, the SWRCB issued curtailment orders for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River and Delta watershed and the Scott, Russian, and Eel watersheds, and for several other river systems. Orders directed junior appropriators, post 1914 appropriators to immediately cease diverting water. Pre-1914 curtailment notices also sent to Sacramento, Feather River and Delta watersheds

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