On the Pretentiousness of Senior Water Rights in California

California water regulators proposed a record $1.5 million fine on July 21, 2015
against the Byron Bethany Irrigation District (BBID) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta. The agency claimed that the district had defied cutbacks that the
California Water Resources Control Board had ordered by diverting water from June
13 through June 25. The complaint said that Byron Bethany had consumed an
estimated 2,056 acre-feet of water1 in spite of the fact that the agency had imposed
a 25 percent mandatory cutback in urban water use and cuts to major agricultural
interests.2 I contend not only that the districts board put the interest of a part
ahead of the good of the whole (i.e., the common good), but also that the board did
so out of a sense of entitlement based on the sheer longevity of the water rights in
the district.
The full essay is at Pretentiousness of Water Rights.

1 An acre-foot is the amount of water that would cover a square acre up to a foot high.
2 Adam Nagourney, California Farm District Accused of Diverting Water, The New York
Times, July 21, 2015.