In California fight isn't over oil but water

PRN - GHN News - Agriculturalists are pitted against environmentalists and those in the
fishing industry in California in a fight over water.  The question
raised is:  will it be farms or fish?

In fact as the law firm of Campbell, Lauter & Murphy, Attorneys at

Law point out, "people over fish" as the rallying cry spells out the
problems in the area as farmers that produce food in places like Central
Valley quarrel over the water, as droughts have negatively impacted the
water in the area and have put 23,000 farmers out of work.

So just like there are worries about the loss of jobs in the oil industry, jobs is central to much of the quarrel over water.

The lawyers who bring up this issue tell us that water policies have
threatened the fishing industry in Northern California, especially the
salmon fishing.  The worry is that salmon runs may end because of the
reduction of water.

California regulators and federal agencies are trying to help seek a
balance to preserve the interest of both farmers and fisherman in an intricate system of water rights laws.

In California, water is considered the property of the state. This
means that individuals, businesses and other entities can never own the
water, but they can acquire rights to use the water.

Campbell, Lauter & Murphy, Attorneys at Law explain the two types
of law regarding water rights that involve what is called Riparian water
rights and appropriate water rights.  Riparian rights allows for the
diversion of water and for right holders not to store the water nor
divert it for use on land that does not border the water with all
riparian rights holders to have the same rights to the water and adjust
their usage accordingly.  Appropriative water rights are those rights
that are not adjacent to the landowner's property and are given by a
license from state regulatory agencies involving water use.

The California problem has to do with where the water is located
predominantly in the state, with the north having plentiful resources
and the south having far less.  So there were two large water
development systems that use dams, power plants, canals and conduits in
order to distribute the water to both areas.

Enforcing California's water rights laws is the task of the State Water Resources Control Board, more commonly referred to as the "Water Board."
The state court system gets involved when there are disagreements over
uses.  The Department of Water Resources helps plan the use of water
supplies.  At the federal level, the Bureau of Reclamation and the the
Environmental Protection Agency are involved to make sure the state's
water uses are fair and equitable and within federal guidelines.

Water, being a finite resource, without enough for equitable
distribution at times in California, which is what the problem is now
between farmers and fishermen.

When water use gets too complex for people to solve on their own,
environmental attorneys step in to help because the issues in California
are complex, along with the legal rights and responsibilities involved.

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