Policies Concerning Wetland Vegetation Quarterly Newsletter of the Division of Water Resources February 2000, Vol.
History often repeats itself.
The crops were all early maturing and requiring little water. Now, however, both early and late crops are raised, the result being that instead of little use for water after July, it is now demanded for August and September as well. Downstream junior water rights at the time believed that the change in type of crops and the length of irrigation was an expanded use of the original water rights. Previous to this change in irrigation practices and crop types, the junior diverters were the benefactors of the intermittent diversions and they were experiencing less opportunities to divert water. They wanted this change in irrigation patterns and crop type to be viewed as a change that required the senior water appropriators to go into court to get new water rights.