The California Water Law Journal is sponsored by the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. The Journal provides an opportunity for students, practitioners, academics and others to engage on California water law issues.
The Journal is proud to feature the winning article each year from the annual student writing competition, the California Water Law Writing Prize. The Writing Prize is sponsored by the California Water Law Symposium Board of Directors and McGeorge School of Law.
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The Exclusivity of Inclusion: Involving Environmental Justice Communities in California’s Central Valley in the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
California was one of the first states to codify the principle of environmental justice ("EJ"), which state law defines as "the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies." Historically, activism in the EJ field has focused on the siting of hazardous facilities such as landfills in poor communities of color, and on efforts to mitigate the associated pollution burden and health effects. However, procedural justice, which one researcher defines as the "fairness of the process by which goods are allocated and decisions made," is also an important component of EJ activism.
Truly a Watershed Event: California's Water Board Proposes Base Flows for the San Joaquin River Tributaries
In 1878, John Wesley Powell, the first director of the United States Geological Survey, published his Report on the Lands in the Arid Regions of the United States. In his Arid Lands Report, Powell foresaw the essential role that water would play in the development of the American west and the challenges faced in managing watersheds that included not only mainstem rivers but networks of tributaries that contributed water to mainstem rivers.
In re Consolidated Salmonid Cases
Nearly two-thirds of the California population and seven million acres of agricultural land receive water from the State Water Project ("SWP") operated by the California Department of Water Resources ("DWR") or the Central Valley Project ("CVP") operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation ("Bureau") (SWP and CVP, collectively referred to as "Projects"). In the Consolidated Salmonid Cases, the Eastern District Court of California reviewed a Biological Opinion ("BiOp") issued in 2009 by the National Marine Fisheries Service ("NMFS") that placed restrictions on the Projects' operations to protect endangered species.