Case Study #6

IS THERE A BETTER WAY TO MANAGE CALIFORNIA’S WATER?

Everyone knows that California water policies are not working today – and haven’t worked for years.  Misplaced priorities, outdated rules, unresponsive bureaucracies… the list of reasons goes on and on.

The question is:  What can be done about it?

With the current control of state and federal government entities, not much.  Without changes in the political makeup of decision makers, Californians will continue to be forced to reduce their water use – while millions of acre-feet of that life-sustaining liquid is flushed out to sea.  Rip out your lawns, shorten your showers, tear up your walnut groves; reduce your standard of life, fallow your acreage, lower your income; sell your farm; leave the most beautiful state in the union.

Regulatory agencies, both state and federal, have assumed control over California’s water.  Elected and even appointed officials cower before “staff” who make every call from the same playbook:  take water away from people, and give it to… fish?  Including species that are now extinct?



Two recent Supreme Court decisions signal the potential for change:  Sackett vs. EPA and Loper Bright.  The former reins in the Clean Water Act, reducing the Environmental Protection Agency’s control over navigable waters.  The latter overturned the Chevron doctrine, putting a halt to the otherwise endlessly expanding reach of regulatory agencies to control every aspect of our lives.

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