An annual pumping right is the amount of acre-feet of groundwater a party to the judgment may extract per administrative year. In the Central Basin it is called Allowed Pumping Allocation or ”APA" while in the West Coast Basin it is called an "Adjudicated Right." Pumping rights were originally assigned to parties by court order but are now transferrable by sale, lease or any other lawful means.
To exercise pumping rights, new owners are required to intervene in the original judgment. This can be done by contacting the either the Central Basin or West Coast Basin Water Rights Panels. Please contact us at watermaster@wrd.org if you have any questions.
Carryover is the right to retain unused water rights from one administrative year to the next. Two types of carryover are used in the Central and West Coast Basins:
Drought Carryover
This type of carryover is only possible during years in which the Water Replenishment District declares a Water Emergency. Once accumulated, drought carryover does not expire and remains with a pumper until it is used or sold.
One-Year Carryover
Annual Pumping Rights include carryover rights in addition to the right to produce groundwater. In the Central Basin, rights holders are allowed to carryover unused rights in the amount of 60% of their APA. In the West Coast Basin the amount is 100% of their Adjudicated Rights. Leases with Flex raise or lower the ability of a party to carryover unused right by altering the amount of rights used in this calculation. For example, in the Central Basin, if a party leases out 100 acre-feet with flex, his carryover rights will be reduced by 60% of 100 or 60 acre-feet. The rights of the lessee to carryover will correspondingly increase by 60 acre-feet.
For more information and for standard lease forms, please contact watermaster@wrd.org.
The right to pump groundwater in the Central and West Coast Basins was formalized in two seaparate court orders, one for the West Coast Basin in 1961 and one for the Central Basin in 1965.
The Central basin judgment was last amended in I’m 2013 and the West Coast Basin was amended in 2014. The judgments established the identities of parties owning water rights and how rights can be used.
Central Basin Third Amended Judgment | West Coast Basin Amended Judgment
Groundwater leases are temporary assignments of rights to other parties to produce groundwater in the Central and West Coast Basins. Leases are for the minimum term of one administrative year but can be for multiple years. Two different types of leases are commonly used:
Standard Leases
Standard leases only transfer the right to pump a specified volume of water for the specified time period. No additional rights are transferred.
Leases with flex
”Flex” transfers both the pumping right and associated carryover rights to the lessee. This can have a significant impact for the future water rights of the parties. See the section on carryover rights for more information.
| Does the Party have carryover and/or storage rights? |
Yes |
No |
|---|---|---|
Central Basin |
TOTAL EXTRACTION RIGHT: 140% of (APA +/- leases)1 Any extraction greater than the Total Extraction Right needs prior approval from the Central Basin Water Rights Panel (CBWRP) |
OVER-EXTRACTION RIGHT: 20% of (APA +/- leases), or 20 af, whichever is greater2 Any over-extraction is deducted from the Party’s subsequent Administrative Year APA3 |
| Judgment Violation | A Party will be in violation of the Judgment if extraction exceeds the Total Extraction Right (listed above) without prior CBWRP approval4 | A Party will be in violation of the Judgment if extraction exceeds the Over-extraction Right (listed above) without prior CBWRP approval5 |
West Coast Basin |
TOTAL EXTRACTION RIGHT: 120% of (AR +/- leases)6 Any extraction greater than the Total Extraction Right needs prior approval from the West Coast Basin Storage Panel |
OVER-EXTRACTION RIGHT: 10% of (AR +/- leases), or 2 af, whichever is greater7 Any over-extraction greater than a Party’s AR +/- leases is deducted from the Party’s subsequent Administrative Year AR |
| Judgment Violation | A Party will be in violation of the Judgment if extraction exceeds the Total Extraction Right (listed above) without prior Storage Panel approval8 | A Party will be in violation of the Judgment if extraction exceeds the Over-Extraction Right listed above without prior Court approval9 |
Although the term “Allowable Extraction” implies the right of a party to produce 100% of it’s rights in a given administrative year, there are limits to the amount of water that can actually be produced depending on whether the pumping occurs in the Central or West Coast Basin.
Central Basin: In the Central Basin, a party cannot produce more than 140% of the sum of it’s annual pumping rights and leases. Parties with large volumes of carryover and stored water may face situations where their Allowable Extraction may be greater than the amount they may legally extract. For example, if a party has 1,000 af of Allowed Pumping Allocation (APA) and 1,000 af in storage, it’s Allowable Extraction will be 2,000 af. but it will not be allowed to produce more than 1,400 (1,000 x 140%) in a single administrative year.
West Coast Basin: The West Coast Basin is similarly limited with the restriction being 120% of the Adjudicated Rights and leases.
Overextractions: Parties without stored water cannot over-extract an amount more than 20% of their Annual Pumping Rights or 20 acre-feet, whichever is greater.
| There are no leases for this FY. |
| There are no leases for this FY. |
| Type | Amount |
|---|
| Account | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total Put Into Storage | 0.00 |
| Total Individual Storage | 0.00 |
| Total Community Storage | 0.00 |
| Total Storage | 0.00 |
| There are no sales in this FY. |
| Storage Accounts for | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total Put Into Storage | 0.00 |
| Total Individual Storage | 0.00 |
| Total Community Storage | 0.00 |
| Total Storage | 0.00 |
| Production | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total Production | 0.00 |
| Storage Withdraws | -0.00 |
| Net Production (Used to calculate next year's OYC) | 0.00 |
