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48 Environs: Env't L. & Pol'y J. 1 (2024-2025)

handle is hein.journals/environs48 and id is 1 raw text is: Groundwater Law's Limits Sean Lyness' Concerns over groundwater quantity and quality have reached new heights, with headline after headline warning of an impending catastrophe. But often missing from the traditional narrative is an accounting of how the law has failed groundwater. This Essay argues that the law has not only failed to address groundwater problems but exacerbated them. Groundwater law is inherently limited by its tethers to the past past common law doctrines, past science, and past governance structures. These limits have made groundwater law stubbornly resistant to change, sustaining the groundwater crisis. California is a case in point, illustrating how groundwater law 's limits inhibit progress. Addressing our groundwater problems thus requires rethinking groundwater law with an understanding of its limits. I.IN TR O D U CTIO N ............................................................................................. . . 1 I.TETHERED TO THE PAST ................................................................................. 2 A. Past Common Law Doctrines...................................................... . 3 B . P ast Science............................................................................... . 4 C. Past Governance Structures......................................................... . 6 IIRESISTANT TO CHANGE: A CALIFORNIA CASE STUDY ................................. 7 III.C O N C LU SIO N .............................................................................................. . 1 1 I.INTRODUCTION Even non-environmentalists know there is something rotten with the state of groundwater. A casual reader of the news is faced with headline' after headline2 about the lack of groundwater. For some, drinking wells reliant on groundwater 1 See, e.g., Mira Rojanasakul, Christopher Flavelle, Blacki Migliozzi & Eli Murray, America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There's No Tomorrow, N.Y. TIMES (Aug. 28, 2023), https: //www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/28/climate/groundwater-drying-climate-change.html. 2 See, e.g., Christopher Flavelle and Mira Rojanasakul, As Groundwater Dwindles, Powerful Players Block Change, N.Y. TIMES , (Nov. 24, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/24/climate/groundwater-levels.html. 1

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