ASSOCIATED PRESS: Farmers on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are being pressed for water — that supplies the Central Valley and down to San Diego — being siphoned.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Farmers on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are being pressed for water — that supplies the Central Valley and down to San Diego — being siphoned.
Delta farmers don’t deny using as much water as they need. But they say they’re not stealing it because their history of living at the water’s edge gives them that right. Still, they have been asked to report how much water they’re pumping and to prove their legal rights to it.
At issue is California’s century-old water rights system that has been based on self-reporting and little oversight, historically giving senior water rights holders the ability to use as much water as they need, even in drought. Gov. Jerry Brown has said that if drought continues this system built into California’s legal framework will probably need to be examined.
