Who does the water belong to? > Rexroad.com

One of the big questions that I struggle with is the ownership of natural resources. I (or the bank) certainly own my home and lot at 711 College. I would think it is safe to say that I own down a few feet below the surface of the ground.

At what point does the dirt, water, minerals....whatever stop being mine and start becoming public property?

Part of the problem the farmers of Yolo County have with this proposed water ordinance is that they believe they own the stuff under their property all the way to the core of the earth.

As a natural resource, water is moving around in that aquifer and the water pumped out is coming from a supply the is under the ground of more than one property.

So tonight as I am reading the Draft Tribal EIR I came across a difficult analysis for me. What does the tribe own? I consider their trust land to be the equivalent of a sovereign nation. They have full control. So where under the earth does that nation end. Does that water under the Rumsey property belong to them? Belong to Yolo County? Belong to all people of the earth?

One thing I like about being a County Supervisor is the cool legal issues that come up. One of the things I don't like is the tricky issues that come up with no real analysis in place.

Ok...back to reading this huge pile of paper. Looking for an answer to random questions.

Comments

By griffith @ Sunday, May 11, 2008 7:57 PM

Matt,

The people of California own “ALL” the water in the state . Water rights are simply the right to reasonable and beneficial use of the water, whether it’s in the Sacramento River or below the ground .
If you read Article X, Section 2 of the California Constitution, it places limitations of water rights.
In my opinion, if you look beyond the lawyer speak and simply rely on your common sense , use the intent of the law, not the letter of the law while making decisions, I feel pretty sure you’ll make the right decision.

By perkoff @ Wednesday, May 14, 2008 2:08 PM

You invest over one hundred thousand dollars for an ag. well and tell me you don't own the water under your property.. The ground water under my property sure into hell does not belong to the Board of Supervisors...

By griffith @ Wednesday, May 14, 2008 6:04 PM

Ya know, in our fish bowl (Yolo County) the population is growing at a fast pace. We all know there is just so much water in our fish bowl. Now, keep in mind that there are 57 other fish bowls(counties) in California , and some of those fish bowls are multiplying faster than the population in our fish bowl (Yolo County). The other fish are MUCH BIGGER and their faces are starting to squeeze up against the sides of their fish bowls . Yet we, the fish (citizens of Yolo County) and the rest of the fish in California keep thinking this water problem will just simply go away. To compound things even more, it seems nobody in California wants to build dams, or build desalination plants to replenish the water in our fish bowls. To make matters worse, no one seems to connect the dots between water storage and flood control in Yolo County. Gee, wouldn’t that be a win win situation?!
We should not be concerned with the BOS controlling our water supply for our little fish bowl. Instead, we should be more concerned with the other fish bowls with the BIGGER fish (the rest of California) taking our water and leaving us (Yolo County) high and dry and flopping in the bottom of our empty fish bowl.
So, instead of farmers complaining about their water wells and the BOS controlling their lives and livelihoods, their brain power could be better used in solving this water problem.

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