Daily Journal: California Water Impact Network and Central Delta Water Agency sue Department of Water Resources over Delta diversions
This article first appeared in the Daily Journal on October 13, 2026.
Two water groups sued California’s Department of Water Resources, alleging excessive Delta exports violate the state Constitution, damage the ecosystem and supply development and agriculture hundreds of miles away.
Two water groups sued California's Department of Water Resources, alleging the state exports excessive amounts of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to support development and agriculture hundreds of miles away, damaging the ecosystem and violating constitutional limits on water use.
The department operates the State Water Project, a 705-mile system of canals, pipelines, reservoirs and power facilities that delivers water to urban, industrial and agricultural users throughout California.
The California Water Impact Network and Central Delta Water Agency claim the project prioritizes deliveries to Southern California over the needs of Delta communities and the estuary's ecological health. California Water Impact Network et al. v. California Department of Water Resources, No. 26CV214931 (Alameda County Super. Ct., filed Oct. 8, 2026).
The lawsuit alleges that the department violates the state Constitution’s reasonable-use requirement and the public trust doctrine by supplying water for uses that cannot be sustained during droughts. The plaintiffs claim excessive diversions reduce river flows, harm native fish populations and raise water temperatures.
“DWR’s unsustainable diversions supply water for urban development and permanent crops in arid and desert areas of California, areas which lack drought resilience and require a reliable supply in every year which DWR does not and cannot provide,” the complaint claims.
The plaintiffs seek court orders requiring the department to disclose annual records of Delta diversions and re-diversions, identify uses that cannot be reliably supplied during droughts and notify affected water users that they need reliable third-party supplies.
They also seek interim limits on diversions and a long-term plan governing State Water Project exports.
The complaint further alleges that the department fails to adequately track whether exported water is put to beneficial use.
“DWR improperly assumes water is beneficially used once it enters the California Aqueduct, without tracking and documenting how, or whether, that water is beneficially used,” the complaint claims.
The department has not publicly responded to the lawsuit. On its website, however, it acknowledges ecological concerns surrounding Delta water supplies.
“The reliability of water supply from the Delta is at risk due to declining fish species and increasing regulatory requirements to protect remaining populations,” the website states. “Our role is to implement required actions to improve survival of fishery resources in the Delta. It is our goal to reduce the amount of time the Delta water supply is disrupted and improve the Delta ecosystem.”
Osha R. Meserve of Soluri Meserve, a Law Corporation, said the lawsuit seeks to enforce longstanding legal obligations that existing regulations have failed to satisfy.
“What we’re trying to do is enforce bedrock legal principles that we believe have been there the whole time,” Meserve said in an interview.
“We’re very cognizant of other agriculture through the state and supportive of agriculture throughout the state, but the balancing needs to occur,” she added.
Roger B. Moore of the Law Office of Roger B. Moore, Adam Keats of the Law Office of Adam Keats PC, Thomas H. Keeling of the Freeman Firm and Meserve represent the plaintiffs.