There are many perspectives on climate change and its potential impact on California’s water supplies. A recent article looks at whether California’s water right system is able to adjust to any shifting water supplies that result from changes in climate. In The effects of global climate change on the California water rights system, Stuart Somach and Jonathan Schutz explore how California water law will hold up under the predicted climate change scenarios.
“The test of California water law, with regard to climate change, will be whether it is rigid enough to provide stability to protect existing systems and expectations, yet flexible enough to deal with changing, likely diminished, water supplies.” California’s water rights system is flexible and allows water to be transferred from one water user to another and from one place of use to another, without a loss of the underlying water right. This system that encompasses both flexibility and certainty should allow California water law and, in turn, its water delivery systems and water users to weather the possible effects of climate change on California’s water supply. In the end, the authors conclude “that California’s water rights law is robust and yet flexible enough to cope with the uncertainties of climate change.”
A full copy of the article is available at: The Effects of Global Climate Change on the California Water Rights System.
