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California had a chance to recall Newsome and send a message to the other bedwetters.

That chance is gone.

The replies to this thread are interesting to say the least. I live in Colorado and have spent 50 years in the water industry. Because Colorado was "civilized" much later in the US's history than other states, they have laid claim to Colorado's water before Colorado, or its residents could. We are what is known as a water shed state. That is a fancy term for, supplier of water to others. I can't recall the exact figure so do not take the following percentage as fact, but IIRC, 2/3rds of all water that is produced from precipitation in our state must exit our borders. And to top it off, we must provide salt free water to others or pay a fine
. There are so many natural hot springs in the state that produce saline that we are penalized by the people who are using our water. Until last year we could not even put to beneficial use the rainwater that came off our roofs. We "owed" it to downhill states. Because of previous claims to our water, the joke around here is, if your dog gets a drink of water out of a river, there are 4 farmers from other states following him around to make sure they get it back after he is done with it. If we kept all the water in our state that is generated in our state, California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, and Arkansas would dry up and blow away and fail to produce enough food to keep a rabbit alive. Sad but true.

We all make our choices.

We are represented by the officials our neighbors elected. If we got a beef its with them.

Sounds a lot like they are nationalizing and seizing the well you paid for and maintain.

The water history of southern Idaho was somewhat different. The Oregon Trail passed within a few miles of my house. Tens of thousands of immigrants went across Idaho and never looked at the land because it was too dry. The Homestead Act didn't work here. It was designed for dry farming and for those few lucky enough to file claims on land with springs and streams. Around 1900 congress passed a modified homestead act called the Cary Act. Besides the free land like the original act, it also allowed settlers to form water corporations to develop irrigation dams and canals and then sell shares to get the water to the land. It worked and allowed Idaho to develop millions of acres of desert into very productive farms.
Like other western states, water law is everything. It's a specialty field of law and it's what keeps the entire area alive. We had another thread about the dams on the lower Snake River (after it leaves Idaho) blocking the salmon runs. Every drop of the Snake River is appropriated. More land can't be developed because there's no more water. Many farms are pumping ground water but a few have been curtailed because their pumping is slowing the flows from springs where someone else has senior water rights. It's a very complicated mess.

I think when the SHTF this tax/fee scheme is going to fall into 2 distinct categories. I have already received a letter last year telling me to register my wells. But they made the distinction of over a certain volume used, if I recall, it was a huge volume, maybe 650,000 gal per year, 2 ac/ft.?
Now say what you will about what you 'own' on deeded land, but the reality is you cannot separate what you own water wise when an aquifer extends past all property lines. And the same is true of surface water, creeks, rivers etc. The water is generated elsewhere and just passes thru your property. You are entitled to use some of that water certainly, especially if the water right is written into the deed. But out west, water in a creek for instance, is not yours. Now throw into the debate...water use for profit as opposed to water use for domestic/household use. One would think that basic human needs water right will trump water for profit. But we live in a crazy world, so who knows how this will shake out. There is a huge amount of case law dating back to the water wars in eastern Colorado, where wealthy ag conglomerates kept punching big ag wells deeper and deeper depleting the aquifer starving the Jim Conrads and Sam Olsons into bankruptcy. Add to all this, there are active ditches in use in this county that pre-date California joining the Union...how will the courts view that? If I had to guess, the only winners here will be lawyers. As they say, "whisky is fer drinkin', water's fer fightin''.

Back in Sep, of 71, Bob Winkler, the driller told us our water was from the Nebraska Drift, 463 feet deep.

In Idaho, domestic wells don't require you to have water rights. However, a domestic well can't be used to irrigate more than 1/2 acre, a house and garden. There's a farm near me that a developer wants to divide into 240 1-acre plots for housing. Each house will have it's own well. That's a huge amount of water to be pulling out of the ground and could require neighboring homeowners to have to deepen their wells. The plan is being fought and I can't guess how it will shake out. The land has irrigation water rights but often when a farm is subdivided, the developers sell off the water rights and the new home buyers don't get it.

I foreseen this many years ago but never wanted to say it out loud. Never wanted to give anyone the idea.
Although I’m sure liberals and bureaucrats have no doubt already thought of every conceivable way to tax something.


We have very good ground water beneath us in my part of Tn. 300-600 ft of fractured limestone hoods and filters a lot of water.

I think what the article is saying is for those wells that aren’t in a sustainable groundwater area need to self report to the state. For now this is geared towards AG use.

What it’s not saying is everything in a groundwater Management area is already a know well and will be subject to excessive fee’s and oversight. Now the state is announcing they want compliance from outlying well owner that aren’t in the system.

It most definitely will only get worse.

I recently attended a conference on ground water wells and legislation regulating them. A new disturbing issue is poking its head up. The federal government is in control of ALL navigable waters in the US and regulates their use and care. The government stance, which is now in the court systems, is that underground water from well could affect the surface navigable waters and are wanting federal control on most wells. This is quite disturbing and arguments before the supreme court and being prepared.

What you mention about volume might be the reason we haven't received any letters..........yet?

I'm not positive, but I believe our well is registered. I haven't bothered to fact check that. But, as a small domestic well, I doubt even with my gardening I'm going to use enough to cause them to come after me..................yet?

What you say about it being a shared resource is what worries some of us. There's a big AG operation over the ridge from us, thousands of acres under pivots and wheel lines. Some of their water comes from the river, but a big portion is groundwater. My rancher neighbor thinks we're all on the same aquifer and in drought years, like this one, when those folks really have to pump to grow alfalfa the level in our wells get lowered. Likely he's worried about his pivot and wheel line on the one section down the road.. I think he's got water rights on the creek that runs through his property where his house and farm are, but these couple of fields use well water.

Scheidty situation for sure, but there's no doubt in my mind the "city fathers" would love for more folks to move into the area. We lost 10% of the population from 2010 census to the 2020 one and businesses are suffering. But, where the hell are they going to find the water if this drought, that's predicted to get worse by some, continues for another decade or more.

It'll be a big lifestyle change if I have to stop gardening because our well will only support our domestic use. And if it gets really bad it'll mean thousands of $$$ to drill it deeper.

Is it any wonder I'm not a fan of..........................people?

Well, a good portion of them at least.

As flintlocke said................the lawyers will be the winners.

Even the losing lawyers will get paid.

If the govt claims to own your minerals, then it's not a big jump to claim they own all the oil and gas reserves under your private property as well... And just take your royalty checks.

Or the wind or sunshine above it.

They want to come onto your property and turn it into a solar farm, or a wind farm, if you let them get away with this chit, that is next.

Accepting socialism and communism is stupid beyond words.

But.............................it's for the children.....................and the greater good.

Resistance is Futile..................Assimilate!

Deans: I saw the reference to kalifornicationkopia in the link you gave and refused to go to or read the article!
My water is free and I will NEVER pay tax on it - of course I am smart enough to NOT live in kalifornicationkopia.
Sadly, as far as I am concerned, the idiots that live in and run kalifornicationkopia deserve EXACTLY what they are getting!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

If .Gov wants your chit they will take it. Even in Montana.

I live in a long narrow mountain valley, climate and soil conditions make it one of the premiere alfalfa growing regions, but it's all irrigated, pivots and wheel lines. The standard of most farmers here is three cuttings, and enough of a fourth stand to make decent winter pasturage. But last year the California Water Resources Board told them to shut down pumping in mid August because the aquifer was dropping the lowest since monitoring began....basically they would have lost 1/3 of their gross income. But...hay prices shot up, about doubling, so there wasn't a lot of push back, but it's going to happen again this year. I kind of went roundabout with this, but the bottom line is, govt controls the aquifers, done deal.

They already started.

Salish Kootenai Water Compact.