Professor Frank Interviewed on California Water Law Reform by Western Water

Professor of Environmental Practice Richard Frank is quoted at length regarding the need for reform of California's water rights laws in an article in Western Water, a publication of the Western Water Foundation.

The state's system of water allocation "worked reasonably well 20, 50, or 100 years ago, but the current drought is showing that it is most inadequate to deal with California's current water challenges," Frank said.  "It's very inflexible in terms of water rights priorities, there is limited recognition of environmental values and environmental needs for water, and there's a lack of transparency that is very frustrating to me and a lot of observers."

Frank said that although he would expect efforts toward comprehensive reforms to meet with resistance from those who benefit from the status quo, "the times are sufficiently daunting that we don't have the luxury of relying on small bites of reform and on the current incremental, open-ended and lengthy process of water rights adjudications."

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.