FEATURE ARTICLE

April 2006

To read this entire item of approximately 3650 words online now in PDF format: Click here to read this item if you are an existing subscriber to this publication. Click here to purchase the full text of this item to read now (price: $25). To subscribe to this publication and immediately access all its archives including this item, select the relevant publication under 'Catalogue' in the left-hand column PLEASE NOTE: to read PDFs on www.argento.com you must be using Version 5 of Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader. If you have an earlier version you can download the latest free of charge by clicking here

The Seaside Basin Case: Adjudication Grows Up

General water rights adjudications are widely reputed to be a legal version of Armageddon. Fortunately, this is not always the case, and to the curious onlooker a groundwater adjudication can even have the beneficial effect of opening a window on the entire array of groundwater law and policy issues. Such is the case with the recent Seaside Basin adjudication, one that also proves the litigation alternative doesn’t have to scorch the earth and that an orderly trial might sometimes be the most direct route to sensible groundwater management.