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 water[1]
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 district’s 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.
