Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Coachella Valley Water Dist.

I. BACKGROUND

Before turning to this appeal’s disputed issues, we first discuss their context,

specifically, the construction and financing of the Coachella Canal, the rights of

respondent, defendant, and appellant Coachella Valley Water District (the Water District)

to obtain water from the Colorado River, and how the Water District’s customers pay for

that water.

A. The All-American and Coachella Canals

The All-American Canal is in Imperial County, the southeastern corner of the

state. (Stene, Eric A., All-American Canal: Boulder Canyon Project (rev. ed. Dec. 2009)

for Bureau of Reclamation, p. 2, available at [as of Jan.

23, 2025] (All-American Canal).) Beginning at Imperial Dam on the California-Arizona

border, the All-American Canal carries water west from the Colorado River for about 80

miles, roughly along the border between the United States and Mexico. (Id. at pp. 2, 11.)

The Coachella Canal branches off from the All-American Canal and carries water

2 northwest for about 120 miles to the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, ending at

Lake Cahuilla. (Id. at pp. 2, 28.)

Before the Coachella Canal was constructed, irrigation…