Up until fairly recently, California groundwater laws have been somewhat archaic and loose. This is mostly because for the last 60-80 years the state’s surface water projects have met a huge part of the demand and groundwater demand hadn’t outstripped its capacity.
Well now things are changing. Not enough new projects to meet the increased demand(environmental, ag, and urban). Not to mention environmentalists are working on taking dams out. Not everywhere in the state is groundwater an issue, but once something gets on the state’s radar it becomes a problem for everyone.
I think there are western states that have some pretty structured water laws because they have needed something in place because of the groundwater demand. If I were to guess, CA could probably adopt some of these and fix what ails it, but instead they’ll reinvent the wheel and fark it all up.
