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Water experts call for restructured water-rights system: State needs to adapt soon, ag professor tells committee

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 14, 2009 at 7:29 am

From Capital Press:

Water experts told senators Tuesday that California’s system of water rights needs an overhaul to meet a future of greater scarcity and higher demand.

As the demands on a static water supply grow, the state needs to rethink the appropriative water rights, along with the riparian rights derived from English common law that have survived since the Gold Rush, experts said.

As population expands and climate change brings greater scarcity, the state needs to adapt soon, said Michael Hanemann, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California-Berkeley, told a hearing of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water.

“For water resource management in California, it is temperature that is going to be the main driver of change in our water system,” Hanemann said. “The combined effect is the California water supply is likely to be reduced … at the same time as the demand for water increases. The single best adaptation California can do is to start to get its house in order now.

“(One) possibility is some sort of substantive change in surface water rights, toward a more equal sharing of water,” Hanemann said.

Read more from the Capital Press by clicking here.

March 14, 2009 · Filed Under Water Rights

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