The Mono Lake Case: California Water Law

The Mono Lake case brought to light the power of the Public Trust Doctrine. The case shook the California Water Law system to the core and has been one of the most influential cases in regards to Environmental Law. Let us briefly review how this powerful doctrine became extremely important in California. In fear of losing Colorado water rights and fearing the expense of water from the planned State project, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power decided to divert water from the four main creeks flowing into Mono Lake. Since municipalities are given priority by the California Constitution, the LADWP did not expect to have any issues (Holyoke). However, this changed when David Gaines along with a group of students studied the egregious …show more content…
And why is its significance so broad? Why is it so influential in environmental law? Let’s start by stating that its origins are from the Old Roman Empire. Basically, 1500 year old words scribed by Justinian I, an Eastern Roman Emperor, saved one of California’s most unique natural treasures. Justinian I maintained that the sea, the air, and running water were common to everyone, open to all, and could not be appropriated for private use (Wiki). Later on, as Rome lost its power to Barbarians, this too became the law in England (Holyoke). In the Magna Carta, English public rights were further reinforced because the upper class demanded fishing weirs be removed from rivers to open up navigation (Wiki). These rights were further reinforced by later laws in England and subsequently became part of the common law of the United States as recognized in Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387 (1892) …show more content…
Furthermore, the Mono Lake case highlighted the “changing public needs” for sheltering resources as an action by the government. The court also stated the following in regards to the role of the Public Trust Doctrine and the California Water Rights System in the Mono Lake case: “The state as sovereign retains continuing supervisory control over its navigable waters and the lands beneath those waters. This principle, fundamental to the concept of the public trust, applies to rights in flowing waters as well as to rights in tidelands and lakeshores; it prevents any party from acquiring a vested right to appropriate water in a manner harmful to the interests protected by the public trust.” In regards to Judicial decisions that expanded the powers of the Water Board, the court stated the following: “The function of the Water Board has steadily evolved from the narrow role of deciding priorities between competing appropriators to the charge of comprehensive planning and allocation of waters.” Basically, the California Supreme Court stated that the City of Los Angeles’ appropriative water rights had limitations by the state in order to protect public trust values, including those of wildlife habitat (Libecap). Furthermore, the California Supreme Court upheld that the Los Angeles’ water rights in Ownes Valley and the Mono Basin

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