UCLA School of Law

This essay explores how Orange County water cases, focusing on equitable apportionment instead of absolute rights, created a model for allocation in other parts of California. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century state court decisions promoted fair water access and collaboration in irrigation works construction, as well as limitations on prescriptive rights within the tri-county Santa Ana River watershed. Orange County’s current administrative system of a pump tax and basin production disincentive follows this cooperative and sustainable approach rather than adhering to rigid legal categories.