Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
California is experiencing the worst drought in its history, and the effects are being felt nationwide. Thus water issues have taken center stage in much of our reporting and the nation's.As the New York Times says, "Water has long been a precious resource in California, the subject of battles pitting farmer against city-dweller and northern communities against southern ones; books and movies have been made about its scarcity and plunder. Water is central to the state’s identity and economy, and a symbol of how wealth and ingenuity have tamed nature ..."As we continue through a fourth year of extreme drought conditions, you'll find all of our reporting on the related issues (and that of NPR and other member stations) in this centralized place.

Drought Ensnares State’s Agricultural Royalty

Andrew Nixon
/
Capital Public Radio

Some holders of highly coveted “senior” water rights received some unwelcome and unprecedented news late Friday — they’re officially in the same boat as everyone else.

For the first time, water rights dating as far back as the mid-19th century are being curtailed. Citing drought conditions, the State Water Quality Control Board told 11 entities, including the operators of three canals and two irrigation districts to stop taking water from the San Joaquin River and its tributaries.

All of the new restrictions are south of the Delta.

The action makes water rights recognized since 1858 — just eight years after California became a state — pretty much worthless, at least temporarily.

Farmers ordered to stop using surface water have little in the way of choice. They can let their crops die or turn to groundwater. 

Friday’s order affects senior rights holders back to 1858 that draw from the Merced River, along with all appropriative rights along the San Joaquin River below the Friant dam near Fresno.

Nearly 300 senior and over 8,700 junior water rights holders have received curtailment orders.