A California appellate court upheld the California Department of Water Resources' (DWR's) method for crediting State Water Project (SWP) water recipients with revenues from hydropower generated at the Oroville Dam. DWR purchases the hydropower for use within the SWP, but some of it is pooled with ot...

The Court of Federal Claims dismissed a water district's breach of contract claims against the United States for failing to provide water drainage facilities and services. The district argued that the contracts it entered into with the government expressly obligated the government to provide drainag...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a municipal water district's petition challenging a water replenishment district's "water emergency" declaration for California's Central Basin. The water district argued that the replenishment district failed to comply with the Ca...

A district court upheld a Nevada water engineer ruling allowing a city to change the manner and place of use of surface water rights. A Native American tribe filed a petition challenging the decision, arguing that the ruling was against the public interest because the groundwater underlying the city...

A California appellate court affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision approving an agreement between landowners, the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District, and local cities and water companies in a water rights dispute over the groundwater contained in the Santa Maria Va...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying agricultural water users' claim that an irrigation district violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it adopted regulations for the distribution of water in the event of an actual or potential water shortag...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of the U.S. government on claims challenging the DOI's accounting of approximately 9,000 acre feet of water released between June 17 and 24, 2004, from two reservoirs within California's Central Valley Project (...

The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision dismissing breach of contract, takings, and Klamath River Basin Compact claims brought against the U.S. government by agricultural landowners and water, drainage, and irrigation districts in Oregon and California. The plaintiffs...

The Supreme Court of Washington held that state law does not limit the amount of water that can be withdrawn from groundwater for livestock-watering purposes. Local farmers and environmentalists sought a declaration that the stockwatering exemption from state permitting requirements is limited t...

A California appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court decision invalidating a settlement agreement between the state and three water and irrigation agencies concerning the intra-state right to water from the Colorado River. In addition to allocating water rights within the state, the sett...