Professor Frank Co-writes CalMatters Op-ed on ‘Byzantine’ Water Laws

On Feb. 24, CalMatters published an op-ed piece authored by Professor of Environmental Practice Rick Frank `74 and UC Berkeley Law Professor Holly Doremus headlined “Byzantine Water Laws Will Leave Californians High and Dry.”

The column identifies numerous deficiencies in California’s antiquated water rights system and proposes specific reforms to modernize that system. Among the most important: protecting drinking water wells from overdrafting by agricultural groundwater pumpers; requiring water users to verify often century-old water rights claims; providing the State Water Resources Control Board with the data it needs on statewide water diversions and the legal authority to respond to illegal and excessive diversions in a timely manner; and requiring that climate change be explicitly considered in California’s decisions regarding new water projects and water allocations.

The column summarizes a detailed set of recommendations Frank and several other water law experts formulated over the past several months to modernize California’s outdated and calcified system of water rights. Developed under the auspices of the Planning & Conservation League Foundation, those recommendations were recently transmitted to the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. Several of the group’s recommendations already have been incorporated in pending legislation authored by California lawmakers.

Richard M. Frank ’74 is a leader in the field of environmental law, Professor of Environmental Practice and the founding director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.