Stockton East Water District v. United States

PLAGER, Circuit Judge.

In the history of the western United States, the fight for water rights is a central theme. California, because a goodly part of the state shares the desert-like conditions that lie at the root of the fight, since before its founding has been one of the locales for this battle. This case is another chapter in that state’s long-running history of water disputes.1

Plaintiffs Stockton East Water District (“Stockton East”) and Central San Joaquin Water Conservation District (“Central”) (collectively, “plaintiffs” or “the Districts”) are water agencies organized under the laws…