how We Work

Litigation

 Past Litigation

PUTTING THE PUBLIC TRUST AND REASONABLE USE FIRST

For too long the health of our rivers has been abandoned to fulfill the insatiable thirst of corporate agriculture and desert development. However, California law provides clear direction on the need to protect our waterways. Our state constitution prohibits wasteful and unreasonable water use, and the legislature has passed laws to prevent unreasonable water uses and provide fresh water for fish populations. In addition, case law requires state agencies to protect public trust resources like salmon. C-WIN’s litigation focuses on upholding these foundational laws; future litigation will hold water managers accountable for compliance.

DEFENDING AGAINST THE DELTA WATER GRAB

C-WIN continues to fight in court and at the State Water Board to prevent the construction and authorization of water for the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP), a $60-$100 billion tunnel that would benefit corporate agriculture and developers while accelerating the destruction of the Delta ecosystem and making water less affordable for over 20 million people. DCP supporters are trying several tricks to fast-track the project and C-WIN is challenging each one. They include claiming unlimited authority to issue revenue bonds to finance the DCP, claiming expired water rights to maximize water diversions, and claiming that the tunnel is necessary for water supply reliability and a cost-effective investment. C-WIN’s attorneys and experts have shown why all these claims are false – and we are winning!

Case List:

State Water Project Revenue Bond Validation Cases
Status: Active; Attorney: Adam Keats 

DWR has claimed in two separate but related court cases that it has existing legislative authorization to issue revenue bonds to finance construction of the DCP. However, both the superior court and the court of appeals have sided with C-WIN and other plaintiffs that DWR does not have bonding authority under existing law because the DCP is not an extension of the original SWP but is a new and separate project that requires distinct bond authority from the legislature. DWR has appealed to the California Supreme Court and has also filed another bond validation case, which is stayed pending resolution of the appeal.

DWR Water Rights Extension Claims
Status: Active; Attorney: Roger Moore

C-WIN is contesting DWR’s claim that it can still utilize expired water rights for the DCP. The case is currently on appeal in the fifth district. Concurrently, C-WIN is protesting DWR’s request to the Water Board to extend the life of its expired water rights. In both instances, the underlying issue is whether DWR can use SWP water rights that expired in 2009 and have not been extended by the Water Board.

CEQA Cases
Status: Active; Attorney: Adam Keats

C-WIN is challenging DWR’s inadequate CEQA analysis for the DCP along with its exclusion of the DCP from its CEQA analysis of long-term operations for the SWP. DWR is attempting to evade its duty to evaluate cumulative impacts and protect public trust resources in both analyses.

Delta Conveyance Project Hearing at State Water Board
Status: Active, Rebuttal phase; Attorney: Roger Moore

C-WIN is protesting DWR’s application to obtain a new point of diversion for the DCP. The Board’s Administrative Hearings Office is holding hearings to evaluate the application. C-WIN has presented expert testimony from ECONorthwest on how the DCP could cost up to $100 billion and fails benefit-cost and cost effectiveness tests. Hearings on protestants’ rebuttal testimony will take place during Summer 2026.

OPPOSING EXCESSIVE SACRAMENTO RIVER DIVERSIONS

C-WIN has intervened at the State Water Board and in federal court to prevent the construction of Sites Reservoir and the approval of Central Valley Project (CVP) repayment contracts that would benefit corporate agriculture and further degrade the Sacramento River ecosystem. The Central Valley Project is operated by the US Bureau of Reclamation and its actions are challenged in federal court. As the major source of freshwater to the Delta, the Sacramento River is critical to sustaining native fish populations.

Case list:

Site Reservoir Project
Status: Active; Comments on draft decision from the Administrative Hearing Officer; Attorney: Adam Keats

C-WIN joined tribes and environmental groups opposed to the Sites Reservoir project in hearings conducted by the State Water Board’s Administrative Hearings Office. In March 2026 the Hearing Officer issued a draft decision approving the Sites water rights permit but placing multiple conditions on its operation. Those conditions would protect flows in the Sacramento River and Delta during dry conditions and would further undermine the proponent’s arguments about cost-effectiveness and supply benefits. Comments on the draft decision are due May 22, 2026. A final order is expected in the Fall.

CVP Repayment Contract Approvals
Status: Active; Attorney: Roger Moore

C-WIN’s challenge to the unlawful CVP repayment contracts is currently pending at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. CVP contractors’ water use dwarfs SWP deliveries and some CVP contractors hold some of the most senior water rights and take massive amounts of water out of the Sacramento River before it reaches the Delta. The CVP repayment contracts give those contractors a sweetheart deal to continue using taxpayer-subsidized water indefinitely with no legal and environmental review.