Five water districts sued California’s State Water Resources Board over its decision to ban senior water rights holders from drawing water out of rivers and streams in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds, said the Sacramento Bee. Some 114 rights holders, who claimed the right to divert water before 1914, are affected by the order, the first limit since the drought of 1977 on senior rights holders.
“The lawsuits are further evidence of the stress on the state’s water system in the fourth year of drought. As regulators order farmers and urban residents to cut water use, some are fighting back,” said the Bee. It said the city of Riverside has sued over a state order to reduce its water use by one-fourth and a group of customers of the State Water Project have filed a complaint saying the farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are taking too much water.