General Stream Adjudications and the Environment

An article on the relationship between general stream adjudications and the environment should be a short one. There is none. The basic purpose of adjudications is to sort through the conflicting claims of users to surface water (and sometimes ground water) under the prior appropriation doctrine. The most valuable rights – the most senior ones – are often enshrouded in the mysteries of the past. Adjudications subject these claims, frequently based on oral recounting or flimsy paper records, to proof in a court of law. It is hoped at the end of the day that the adjudication court will enter a judicial decree that establishes water rights to specific quantities of water with relative priority dates. Given this central mission, it is obvious that adjudications are not designed to protect rivers by keeping water in the rivers, unless a particular state protects rivers through instream flow rights or other doctrines such as the public trust.