California Drought Bites, But Any Possible Regulation Of Groundwater Elicits Squeals Of "Freedumb!"
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Groundwater is loosely regulated in California, but that could change. Years of dry conditions have lawmakers looking at groundwater in ways once considered too politically risky. In many areas across the state, property owners - who have a right to the water under their land - don't have to disclose how much they use from shared basins. Those who oppose groundwater regulation consider it government overreach.
"The drought is being used as a political mechanism to take away property rights," said Cindy Steinbeck of Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery in Paso Robles. "We are in a serious drought, but that doesn't mean individual landowners should have to give up what is theirs by law."
Groundwater has been regulated in vastly different ways from other water sources. California requires permits and licenses to take water from streams, rivers and lakes, but no such process exists for groundwater. Surface water and groundwater are treated differently in state law in a way that resource experts say makes little sense, given that one affects the other.
"California has the least structure and fewest requirements (compared with any other) state," said Andrew Fahlund, deputy director of the California Water Foundation. "The system has survived up to this point because we weren't facing a significant crisis."
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http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Strife-over-groundwater-boils-5319209.php
