California Water Rights are Largely Held by White Men

In late February, Restore the Delta released a Department of Water Resources analysis of the ethnic/racial makeup of water rights holders in the state of California. Not surprisingly, the racial makeup was largely white.

This is hardly a surprising observation. California water rights are generally based on pueblo rights (limited to certain Spanish-era settlements), riparian rights (based on English common law focused on land ownership next to a river), and appropriative rights (out-of-stream use from the gold-rush era and beyond). Most diversion volumes are made under appropriative rights.

The present-day water rights system does not preclude ownership rights based on race, but the ownership traces of the system’s initial formation can be seen today. For example, pre-European-settlement indigenous groups and individuals were largely excluded from participation in the benefits of the system when it was established.

It’s not exactly easy to undo a long-established property-rights-based water rights system, particularly under the legal construct of the 5th amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the takings clause). But some major reforms and recommendations from a blue-ribbon panel of legal experts were released a year ago, many of which involved improved environmental justice procedures associated with the administration of the water rights system.

It’s worth a serious look by the legislature and state agencies, and some have already been adopted and even more are under consideration by some members of the California legislature.