Monday February 27, 2023
Restore the Delta —
To inform the “Adapting Water Rights to our 21st Century Climate” hearing at the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife on Tuesday 2/28/23, Restore the Delta today is releasing the results of a California water rights analysis by race, completed by employees with the Department of Water Resources, but deleted from the agency’s website soon after posting.
This analysis of public records shows that the majority of water rights in California are held still by white landowners and white officials who manage special-interest water districts. (Detailed data is available to reporters.)
ABOUT THE DATA
For the third annual California Water Data Challenge contest, two DWR employees chose to study control of water by race and ethnicity during the summer of 2022.
They concluded from their study that of 1500 local and state officials that 86 percent were white, and 79 percent were male. This data came from local district agency websites and the California State Workforce Analysis.