California v. United States District Court

We are entertaining petitions for a writ of prohibition or mandamus or cer-tiorari arising out of the consolidated case of Rank v. Krug, Civ. Nos. 685, 668, 681, 680, and 832 ND, which is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. 1 Three separate petitions were filed, one by the United States, 2 one by the State of California, 3 and one by certain water districts 4 which we shall designate collectively as “Chowchilla”. 5 Since each petition poses some different questions, we shall treat each one separately.

A brief historical statement of the basic facts of this litigation will assist in the understanding of the issues treated herein.

As part of the Central Valley Project in California, the United States has built Friant Dam on the upper reaches of the San Joaquin River. From Millerton Lake, which is formed by the river waters behind Friant Dam, water is being diverted either north into the Madera Canal or south into the Friant-Kern Canal for use outside the San Joaquin River drainage basin. The water users on the lower San Joaquin River are being, or by the plan of the Project are to be, supplied with water brought from the…