The Department of Water Resources, Before the Superior Court, Responds to Public Trust Claims in Groundwater Sustainability Plan Litigation
April 2025
California Water Law & Policy Reporter, Volume 35, Number 7
On February 21, 2025, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) filed supplemental briefing (Supplemental Response) in response to the court’s questions over the propriety of a legal challenge to a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) based on violations of the common law public interest doctrine in Aqualliance, et al. v. Biggs-West Gridley Water District, et al. (Butte County Superior Court, 2022, Case No. 22CV00348.) While DWR’s Supplemental Response does not take a position on what a complaint must allege to support a public trust cause of action, it argues that any public trust challenge to an adopted GSP must be brought in a validation action.
Subscribers to the California Water Law & Policy Reporter can read the full article here.