ALPINE DECREE (CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA)

The Federal Court adjudication of the relative water rights on the Carson River which is the primary regulatory control of Carson River operations today. The decree is administered in the field by a watermaster appointed by the federal district court. The decree, initiated by the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 1, 1925 through U.S. v. Alpine Land and Reservoir Company, et al., to adjudicate water rights along the Carson River. The decree was finally entered 55 years later on October 28, 1980, making it the longest lawsuit undertaken by the federal government against private parties over water rights. The decree established the respective water rights (to surface water only) of the parties to the original lawsuit, both in California and Nevada to Carson River water. The decree did not make an interstate allocation of the Carson River between California and Nevada; it only quantified individual water rights. Neither state was a party to the decree. In addition to Carson River surface water rights, it also established the rights to reservoir storage in the high alpine reservoirs and confirmed the historical practice of operating the river on rotation, so that irrigators with more junior priorities could be served as long as possible. These upper alpine reservoirs were permitted to fill out of priority order, in accordance with historical practice. The decree also specifically recognized Riparian Water Rights in California (as distinguished from the quantified Appropriative Water Rights used in Nevada). For purposes of water distribution, the Carson River and its east and west forks, were divided into eight (8) segments and when the river went into regulation (i.e., there was not enough water in the Upper Carson River to serve the most junior priority) each segment of the river was to be administered autonomously. Duties of water were set forth for various locations according to Bench Land and Bottom Land designations. For lands in the Newlands Irrigation Project (i.e., below Lahontan Dam) in Churchill County near Fallon, the Alpine decree provided for an annual net consumptive use of surface water for irrigation of 2.99 acre-feet per acre and a maximum water duty of 4.5 acre-feet per acre for water-righted bench lands and 3.5 acre-feet per acre for water-righted bottom lands delivered to the land. For lands above the Newlands Project (i.e., above Lahontan Reservoir), the net consumptive water use was set at 2.5 acre-feet per acre with water duties of 4.5 acre-feet per acre diverted to the canal for bottom lands, 6.0 acre-feet per acre diverted to the canal for the alluvial fan lands and 9.0 acre-feet per acre diverted to the canal for the bench lands. This annual net consumptive use, or Crop Water Requirement, was based on the water duty of alfalfa as it is a dominant and the highest water-using crop grown in Nevada. While the Alpine Decree established water duties for bench and bottom lands throughout the Carson River Basin, it made no identification of those lands. The decree also granted landowners on the Newlands Project an Appurtenant Water Right for the patented lands, effectively transferring water rights to these land holders individually.