Got a surprise in the mail Thu of last week:
I'm being sued by the US government and the Walker River Paiute tribe. Along with, among others, everybody who has a well in much of western Nevada and eastern California.
As far as I can tell so far (if I'm not mistaken):
- California and Nevada finally settled a dispute of many years and agreed to a division of the water from Lake Tahoe and the Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers. And they divvied up all of it.
- Then the Paiutes and the US government said "WAIT a minute! Water rights out here are by 'prior appropriation', not 'riparian'. We have claims dating from the 1930s and older and they take precedence to your divvy. This reservations irrigation and reservoir, that marine training base, this other big munitions storage base, that dam and reservoir, etc. And since they've never been litigated and thus proven in court we'll litigate them now."
- But they worded the claim to include, not just the river water, but also the groundwater in all the valleys the rivers ran through. So even a deep well in those valleys might infringe.
- And the federal court said "If you're going to make a claim against everybody with a well drilled or river tap installed since the 1930s or whatever you have to name them all as defendants so they know there's a threat to their water use rights and have an opportunity to argue their counterclaim."
- So the US and the Paiutes said "OK", looked up every well and whatever in all the relevant valleys in NV and CA, and added a couple thousand people and businesses to the suit. Including me and my wife.
So it's off to NV to talk with a water rights lawyer. (Assuming he doesn't have a conflict of interest because ONE of these thousands of other defendants once used his law firm...)
While it's tempting to let the State of Nevada handle it, since my well is under license from them, I hear the state may have overextended its granting of water wells for new development and might be looking for a way to back out...
Why mention it here? Because the NV place is where I plan to retire and build my alternative energy systems. If I lose the well it becomes untenable. (I'd have to truck all my water in from outside the area.)
Upside: It gives me an excuse to take a break from work for a couple days and do any maintenance and winterization needed at the NV place.
= = =
FYI:
Riparian water rights: How it's done mainly in the eastern states. Everybody on the stream gets to tap it, in proportion primarily to stream frontage. In a drought everybody has to cut back. Local governmental or rightholder organization mediates and sets quotas. Rights stick with the land.
Prior Appropriation water rights: How it's done mainly in the western states. Historically first user (farmer irrigating, for instance) gains a right to the amount of water he regularly uses. Next user gains a similar right but subsidiary to the first, and so on. In a drought, the first guy gets to use his whole right, then the second guy gets to use his, and so on until the water runs out and the later users get to dry up and blow away. Rights are separate from the land and can be bought and sold.
