Western Water Co. v. Yuba County Water Agency CA3

BACKGROUND

The Yuba River flows generally in a westerly direction out of the Sierra Nevada Range and across Yuba County. Before the mid- to late-1800’s, the river flowed through

appeal. In a separate appeal, we recently affirmed an order for Western Water Company to pay attorney’s fees to Western Aggregates LLC. (Western Water Company v. Western Aggregates LLC (Oct. 30, 2014, C071359) [nonpub. opn.].)

2 a flood plain several miles wide with multiple channels, but California’s Gold Rush dramatically changed the topography. Dredged materials from the river’s upper watershed were displaced by hydraulic gold mining and moved downstream, slowing and depositing in the flood plain. In the early 1900’s, additional dredging operations separated the deposited materials as they searched for more gold. Western Water’s predecessors and other dredge operators created large pits which filled with water, creating a series of ponds. Most of the Goldfield ponds are lower than the river and are separated from it by piles of dredge tailings. Agricultural water districts eventually created a waterway called the South Canal to move water accumulating in the Goldfield ponds to farms in South Yuba…