Regulators responding to California’s current drought are running into rights granted to farmers more than a century ago.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued a cease and desist order against farmers pumping from a branch of the San Joaquin River, but those farmers are fighting back, citing water rights granted long before the state’s population exploded.
“In the water world, the pre-1914 rights were considered to be gold,” said Ed Casey, partner and co-leader of Alston & Bird’s Water Resources Group, who says the battle between the state water board and farmers “tests ... the limitations on that piece of gold.”
The State Water Resources Control Board issued a cease and desist order against farmers pumping from a branch of the San Joaquin River, but those farmers are fighting back, citing water rights granted long before the state’s population exploded.
“In the water world, the pre-1914 rights were considered to be gold,” said Ed Casey, partner and co-leader of Alston & Bird’s Water Resources Group, who says the battle between the state water board and farmers “tests ... the limitations on that piece of gold.”