Book contents
- Riverflow
- Riverflow
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Maps
- Foreword: Marching Away from Folly
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Publicum Ius Aquae
- 1 Instream Rights and the Public Trust
- 2 Instream Rights and Unreasonable Use
- 3 Instream Rights and Dams
- 4 Instream Rights and Watershed Governance
- 5 Instream Rights as Federal Law Recedes
- 6 Instream Rights as Water Temperatures Rise
- 7 Instream Rights as Sea Levels Rise
- 8 Instream Rights and Groundwater Extraction
- 9 Instream Rights and Old Canals
- 10 Instream Rights and Water as an Investment
- 11 Instream Rights and International Law
- 12 Instream Rights and Irrigation Subsidies
- 13 Instream Rights and Pacific Salmon
- 14 Instream Rights and Hatchery Fish
- 15 Instream Rights as Indigenous Rights
- Conclusion Policy Disconnected from Science
- About the Author
- Index
8 - Instream Rights and Groundwater Extraction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 February 2021
- Riverflow
- Riverflow
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Maps
- Foreword: Marching Away from Folly
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Publicum Ius Aquae
- 1 Instream Rights and the Public Trust
- 2 Instream Rights and Unreasonable Use
- 3 Instream Rights and Dams
- 4 Instream Rights and Watershed Governance
- 5 Instream Rights as Federal Law Recedes
- 6 Instream Rights as Water Temperatures Rise
- 7 Instream Rights as Sea Levels Rise
- 8 Instream Rights and Groundwater Extraction
- 9 Instream Rights and Old Canals
- 10 Instream Rights and Water as an Investment
- 11 Instream Rights and International Law
- 12 Instream Rights and Irrigation Subsidies
- 13 Instream Rights and Pacific Salmon
- 14 Instream Rights and Hatchery Fish
- 15 Instream Rights as Indigenous Rights
- Conclusion Policy Disconnected from Science
- About the Author
- Index
Summary
In California and many other countries and jurisdictions, surface waters have historically been regulated as if they were unconnected to groundwater. Yet in reality, surface waters and groundwater are often hydrologically connected. Many of the rivers that support fisheries are hydrologically dependent on tributary groundwater to maintain instream flow. This means that when there is an intensive pumping of tributary groundwater, the result can be reductions in instream flow and damage to fisheries.
Consider the Scott River in Northern California, part of the larger Klamath River basin, where nearby groundwater contributes to the Scott River. When high volumes of groundwater are extracted from nearby wells, it depletes the Scott River’s instream flow with adverse impacts on salmon and steelhead trout.1 This has led to litigation over the application of California public trust law to groundwater extraction affecting Scott River instream flows, and efforts to use California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to ensure that groundwater pumping near the Scott River is compatible with the instream flow needs of fisheries. Situations similar to the Scott River surface and groundwater basin are unfolding throughout California.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- RiverflowThe Right to Keep Water Instream, pp. 134 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021