<html><head></head><body><div class="ydp74608454yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div><div class="ydp74608454signature" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><a href="https://calmatters.org/commentary/2021/07/california-supreme-court-westlands-water-wars-drought/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://calmatters.org/commentary/2021/07/california-supreme-court-westlands-water-wars-drought/</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="ydp74608454signature"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><h1 class="ydpb32be638entry-title" style="font-size: 2.4em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; font-family: interstate, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.2;">Two decrees affect California water wars</h1><div class="ydpb32be638entry-subhead" style="width: 1163.69px;"><div class="ydpb32be638entry-meta" style="font-family: interstate, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Fira Sans, Droid Sans, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif; font-size: 0.7em; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); margin-bottom: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: bold;"><span class="ydpb32be638author-avatar" style="float: left;"><img alt="" class="ydpb32be638i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer" style="max-width: 100%; display: block !important;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true" data-id="1625581976441"><img alt="" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1f7ebf80ac83709ac7018f847d33a3fc?s=80&d=mm&r=g" class="ydpb32be638i-amphtml-fill-content ydpb32be638i-amphtml-replaced-content" style="display: block; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 0px; margin: auto; padding: 0px !important; border-color: currentcolor !important; border-style: none !important; border-width: medium !important;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true" data-id="1625581977360"></span><span class="ydpb32be638byline" style="display: block;"><span>BY</span><span class="ydpb32be638Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="ydpb32be638author ydpb32be638vcard" style="font-weight: bold;"><a class="ydpb32be638url ydpb32be638fn ydpb32be638n" href="https://calmatters.org/author/dan-walters/" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); text-transform: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DAN WALTERS</a></span></span><span class="ydpb32be638posted-on">JULY 6, 2021</span></div></div><img alt="" class="ydpb32be638i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer" style="max-width: 100%; display: block !important;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true" data-id="1625581976442"><img alt="California Capitol. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters" src="https://i2.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/081219_Capitol_AW_sized_02.jpg?fit=1200%2C766&ssl=1" class="ydpb32be638i-amphtml-fill-content ydpb32be638i-amphtml-replaced-content" style="display: block; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 0px; margin: auto; padding: 0px !important; border-color: currentcolor !important; border-style: none !important; border-width: medium !important;">California Capitol. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters<div class="ydpb32be638main-content" style="width: 756.391px; color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: interstate, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Fira Sans, Droid Sans, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor;"><div class="ydpb32be638entry-content" style="position: relative;"><div class="ydpb32be638wp-block-group ydpb32be638has-light-gray-background-color ydpb32be638has-background ydpb32be638calmatters-summary" style="background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 30px; margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;"><div class="ydpb32be638wp-block-group__inner-container"><p class="ydpb32be638has-small-font-size ydpb32be638calmatters-summary-heading" style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0px; color: rgb(5, 160, 196); text-transform: uppercase;"><strong style="font-weight: bolder;">IN SUMMARY</strong></p><p class="ydpb32be638calmatters-summary-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 0.95em;">As California water interests joust over management of the state’s supply, two decrees from Washington change the game.</p></div></div><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The powerful interests who vie for shares of the state’s ever-changing water supply — dubbed “water buffaloes” — are adept at fending off political and legal assaults by their rivals and the outcomes of their clashes are often stalemates.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">That’s why it was surprising in June to see two game-changing decrees out of Washington, one from the new Biden administration and another from the Supreme Court, affecting two of the state’s most prominent water interests, Southern California’s Imperial Irrigation District and the San Joaquin Valley’s Westlands Water District.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">Neither attracted much media attention, but both could have long-term affects on how huge portions of the state’s water supply are managed.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The Supreme Court unanimously refused to hear<span class="ydpb32be638Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2021/06/28/supreme-court-wont-hear-michael-abatti-case-against-iid-water-rights/7784711002/" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; color: rgb(5, 160, 196);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">an appeal by Imperial Valley farmer Mike Abatti</a>, who contended that Colorado River water flowing into the valley is owned by its farmers, not the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 32px; max-width: 100%;">Get a veteran journalist's take on what's going on in California with a weekly round-up of Dan's column every Friday.</p><div class="ydpb32be638wp-block-jetpack-mailchimp" data-blog-id="163013142"><form method="post" id="ydpb32be638mailchimp_form" class="ydpb32be638i-amphtml-form" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><input placeholder="Enter your email" title="Enter your email" name="email" style="font-family: interstate, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Fira Sans, Droid Sans, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; outline: currentcolor none medium; border-radius: 0px; width: 724.391px;"></p><div class="ydpb32be638wp-block-jetpack-button ydpb32be638wp-block-button" style="text-transform: uppercase; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><button class="ydpb32be638wp-block-button__link ydpb32be638has-text-color ydpb32be638has-dark-gray-color ydpb32be638has-background ydpb32be638has-secondary-variation-background-color" data-id-attr="mailchimp-button-block-3" id="ydpb32be638mailchimp-button-block-3" style="font-family: interstate, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Fira Sans, Droid Sans, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(244, 160, 69); border-color: inherit; border-style: inherit; border-width: inherit; border-radius: 5px; display: inline-block; outline: currentcolor none medium; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; vertical-align: bottom; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;">SUBSCRIBE</button></div><p id="ydpb32be638wp-block-jetpack-mailchimp_consent-text" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 0.8em;">By clicking subscribe, you agree to share your email address with CalMatters to receive marketing, updates, and other emails. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.</p></form></div><form class="ydpb32be638popup-not-interested-form ydpb32be638c1241 ydpb32be638popup-action-form ydpb32be638c124 ydpb32be638align-center ydpb32be638i-amphtml-form" method="POST" style="margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; max-width: 100%;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><button data-amp-original-style="background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000" class="ydpb32be638amp-wp-85c1a93" style="font-family: interstate, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Fira Sans, Droid Sans, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif; font-size: 0.7em; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: currentcolor; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; border-radius: 0px; display: inline-block; outline: currentcolor none medium; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; vertical-align: bottom;">I'M NOT INTERESTED</button></form><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The importance of the case is that the IID controls three-quarters of California’s allocation of<span class="ydpb32be638Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://calmatters.org/explainers/water-policy-explained-california-delta-reservoir-water-conservation/" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; color: rgb(5, 160, 196);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Colorado River water</a><span class="ydpb32be638Apple-converted-space"> </span>— more than three million acre-feet a year — and Abatti’s loss may allow the district to expand sales of water outside its boundaries.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">Imperial’s diversions have been underway for more than a century and until recently the IID’s governing board was controlled by the large-scale farmers it served. In recent years, however, the elected five-member board diversified both ethnically and ideologically and today no farmer holds a seat and three of the five members are Latino.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">Those changes brought changes of policy that no longer favored local agriculture and touched off Abatti’s legal challenges on water ownership that ultimately failed in the Supreme Court.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The court’s refusal to hear the case “brings closure to this dispute and clarifies certain misunderstandings about IID’s water rights,” IID board President James Hanks said.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The farmers served by the even larger, Fresno-based Westlands Water District also took a hit last month when the Interior Department very quietly rescinded a five-month-old memorandum that would have, in essence, cancelled a $400 million debt owed by Westlands for environmental restoration.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The memorandum, essentially declaring that the restoration work was complete, had been issued on January 19, one day before Joe Biden’s inauguration, while Donald Trump appointee David Bernardt was still interior secretary. It was widely criticized because Bernhardt had been a long-time legal advisor to Westlands.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">Once Bernhardt was gone and succeeded by Biden appointee Debra Haaland, California environmental groups and Indian tribes<span class="ydpb32be638Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://calmatters.org/commentary/my-turn/2021/04/trump-era-water-rules-should-be-reversed/" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; color: rgb(5, 160, 196);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pressed the new administration</a><span class="ydpb32be638Apple-converted-space"> </span>to countermand not only the January 19 restoration memo but other pro-Westlands actions, including a permanent water supply contract.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">On June 11, the memo was rescinded in a new memo to the regional Bureau of Reclamation office, citing the earlier order’s failure to collaborate with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The recission leaves Westlands and its farmer members still on the hook for the $400 million and also indicates that the Biden administration may also cancel the water supply contract and other Trump-era actions that backed farmers in their perpetual battles with environmental groups over water allocations.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">The twin decrees arrive from Washington as California experiences another of its periodic droughts, pushing water management back to the top of the political agenda.</p><p style="margin: 32px 0px; max-width: 100%;">Westlands and other agricultural water agencies south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have seen their allocations slashed to zero, farmers’ ability to tap underground aquifers is now subject to regulation and water policy reformers are challenging the hierarchy of water rights, such as the one that gives the Imperial Irrigation District so much power over Colorado River diversions.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>