Actions for Groundwater Rights

Part 2, Title 10, Chapter 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure deals with actions relating to groundwater rights. Article 1 contains general provisions.

Section 830 provides that this chapter establishes methods and procedures for a comprehensive adjudication. This chapter is applied and interpreted consistently with all of the seven specified requirements.

Section 831.5 specifies that, in an adjudication action for a basin required to have a groundwater sustainability plan under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the court is required to appoint one party to forward all case management orders, judgments, and interlocutory orders to the groundwater sustainability agency within 10 business days of issuance.

The groundwater sustainability agency is required to post the documents on its internet website in the interest of transparency and accessibility within 20 business days of receipt from a party. This section does not apply to any documents that have been sealed by the court.

Section 832 defines the following terms: “basin,” “complaint,” “comprehensive adjudication,” “condition of long-term overdraft,” “department,” “expert witness,” “groundwater,” “groundwater extraction facility” “groundwater recharge,” “person,” “plaintiff,” “public water system,” “state small water system,” and “Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.”

Article 2 deals with the scope of action. Section 833 provides that this chapter applies to actions that would comprehensively determine rights to extract groundwater in a basin, whether based on appropriation, overlying right, or other basis of right. This chapter does not apply to four specified actions.

Section 834 allows, in a comprehensive adjudication conducted pursuant to this chapter, for the court to determine all groundwater rights of a basin, whether based on appropriation, overlying right, or other basis of right, and use of storage space in the basin.

The court’s final judgment in a comprehensive adjudication, for the groundwater rights of each party, may declare the priority, amount, purposes of use, extraction location, place of use of the water, and use of storage space in the basin, together with appropriate injunctive relief, subject to terms adopted by the court to implement a physical solution in the comprehensive adjudication.