Blog: California’s largest groundwater rights judgment affirmed
After 22 years of litigation, a California appellate court has affirmed a trial court judgment defining groundwater pumping rights for thousands of landowners plus cities, water districts and Edwards Air Force Base in the Antelope Valley desert north of Los Angeles. The March 16, 2021 opinion by the Fifth District Court of Appeal is one of three recent opinions rejecting challenges to a 2015 trial court judgment declaring groundwater rights and imposing a “physical solution” to reduce pumping and to ensure sustainability of the Antelope Valley’s largest single source of water supply.