{"id":1170,"date":"2023-03-06T09:45:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T14:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2023-03-06T09:46:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T14:46:17","slug":"californias-antiquated-water-rights-system-faces-new-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/education\/californias-antiquated-water-rights-system-faces-new-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s water rights system faces new scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an arcane system of water law that dates back to the birth of California \u2014 an era when 49ers used sluice boxes and water cannons to scour gold from Sierra Nevada foothills and when the state government promoted the extermination of Native people to make way for white settlers.<\/p>\n

Today, this antiquated system of water rights still governs the use of the state\u2019s supplies, but it is now drawing scrutiny like never before.<\/p>\n

In the face of global warming and worsening cycles of drought, a growing number of water experts, lawmakers, environmental groups and tribes say the time has finally come for change. Some are pushing for a variety of reforms, while others are calling for the outright dismantling of California\u2019s contentious water rights system.<\/p>\n

Calls for reform were heightened recently when the environmental group Restore the Delta released an analysis<\/a> that concluded that the people who make decisions about California\u2019s water are overwhelmingly white and male.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole water rights system sits on a foundation of racism and violence,\u201d said <\/b>Max Gomberg, a former State Water Resources Control Board staffer<\/a> who has sharply criticized the Newsom administration and now works with the environmental group. \u201cIt needs to be abolished.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report was released as state lawmakers held a hearing on several reform proposals that would address longstanding problems within the water rights system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an easy conversation, but I think it\u2019s long overdue,\u201d said Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), who chairs the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.<\/p>\n

Bauer-Kahan said there are many signs the existing system is \u201cnot functioning well and equitably,\u201d including the \u201cinability to halt illegal diversions.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the hearing, experts such as Richard Frank, a UC Davis law professor, argued for a \u201cmore nimble system,\u201d while Ellen Hanak, director of water policy for the Public Policy Institute of California, said the changing climate is stressing the water rights system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re confronting 21st century climate change, drought and water supply problems with a 20th century system of California water infrastructure and a 19th century system of water rights, and that\u2019s a problem,\u201d said Frank, director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center.<\/p>\n

Read more from Ian James of the LA Times<\/em>:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/environment\/story\/2023-03-06\/is-californias-antiquated-water-rights-system-racist<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an arcane system of water law that dates back to the birth of California \u2014 an era when 49ers used sluice boxes and water cannons to scour gold from Sierra Nevada foothills and when the state government promoted the extermination of Native people to make way for white settlers. Today, this antiquated system of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1865,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1865"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1172,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/environmental-justice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}