In Montana we have Water rights.
These Rights are adjucated by a series of Montana Water rights courts.
If you drill a well, you apply for a Water right, my well for instance is 10,xxx, and I’m allowed to draw essentially, 10 gallon per minute every minute of the year. It’s my legal Right.
Streams, gulches and irrigation ditches that deliver water to farms & ranches also have numerical rights — if there ever was a SUPER SERIOUS drought some irrigation could be curtailed...
Thanks for explaining—that makes sense and I was not familiar with that. However, I assume CA is doing this for control and $$$-—not conservation.