Professor Frank Comments on Water Law and California's Drought for CNBC
Professor of Environmental Practice Richard Frank commented for CNBC on California's ongoing drought and some of the legal questions that have surfaced as the state seeks to improve conservation of its water supply.
One important issue is whether California's Proposition 218, which bans state agencies from charging more for a service than the cost of providing it, prohibits tiered water pricing plans that charge large water users a higher price per gallon than smaller water users. Such plans have been subject to legal challenges, and recently a state appeals court in Southern California ruled that a San Juan Capistrano water pricing system may violate the law.
"It certainly casts a pall," said Frank. "The ruling raises questions about the long-term viability of these tiered water rate systems, which many water districts up and down the state, particularly urban districts, have used, and which had been becoming more popular as the drought deepened."
Frank also commented on the difficulty of enforcing water conservation efforts. "In California the resources dedicated to enforcement have always been very limited, and that deficiency is coming into starker focus now that the crisis is so great," he said.
Frank, a 1974 graduate of King Hall, is a leader in the field of environmental law and the founding Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.