(a) In a comprehensive adjudication conducted pursuant to this chapter, the court may determine all groundwater rights of a basin, whether based on appropriation, overlying right, or other basis of right, and use of storage space in the basin.
§ 834.Scope of Adjudication
Title 10. Actions In Particular Cases · Chapter 7. Actions Relating to Groundwater Rights · Article 2. Scope of Action · Enacted 2015 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 834 lets the court, in a comprehensive adjudication, determine all groundwater rights in a basin regardless of legal basis and lets the final judgment declare priority, amount, purpose, location, and place of use for each party's rights along with injunctive relief implementing a physical solution.
Full Text of § 834
(b) The court's final judgment in a comprehensive adjudication, for the groundwater rights of each party, may declare the priority, amount, purposes of use, extraction location, place of use of the water, and use of storage space in the basin, together with appropriate injunctive relief, subject to terms adopted by the court to implement a physical solution in the comprehensive adjudication.
Plain-English Summary
This section describes the scope of what a court can decide once a comprehensive adjudication is underway. Subdivision (a) authorizes the court to determine all groundwater rights of a basin — appropriative, overlying, or based on any other legal theory — along with rights to use storage space within the basin.
Subdivision (b) describes what the final judgment can include for each party: priority among competing rights, the amount of water the right covers, the purposes for which it may be used, where extraction may occur, where the water may be used, and rights to storage space, together with injunctive relief that carries out a physical solution the court adopts. A physical solution, addressed further in § 849, is a court-crafted framework for managing the basin going forward rather than a simple declaration of who wins and who loses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kinds of groundwater rights can a court resolve in a comprehensive adjudication?
All of them, regardless of whether they're based on appropriation, overlying right, or another basis, along with rights to use storage space in the basin.
What can the final judgment include for each party?
Priority, amount, purposes of use, extraction location, place of use, and storage rights, along with injunctive relief implementing a physical solution.
What is a "physical solution" in this context?
A framework the court adopts for managing the basin's groundwater rights and use going forward, described in more detail in § 849.
Amendment History
Added by Stats 2015 ch 672 (AB 1390),s 1, eff. 1/1/2016.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: scope of groundwater adjudication judgment california