Shasta Dam in the late 1970s.

Photo by Tim Stroshane

Paper water can be observed for any watershed any time people and corporations argue about water use and water rights, including the rights of ecosystems to flows remaining in the stream for their survival.

There is no one correct way to calculate or estimate paper water for a stream or watershed. California law provides three ways for people fighting about water to resolve their water rights and make them more reliable than they had been:

• Through mutual, binding agreements.
• Through the courts, by the decision of a judge adjudicating the stream.
• Through the State Water Board for appropriative water right permit holders.

C-WIN fights paper water through our Water Rights Action Program before the State Water Board, where the public interest, public trust resources, and constitutional waste and unreasonable use issues can be raised by members of the public. We don't own any water rights ourselves.

There are several arenas for paper water where C-WIN gets involved.

• Central Valley Project
• State Water Project
• New suburban and exurban developments.