TRUCKEE, Calif. _ A superior court judge recently ruled in favor of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority in a water rights case involving a lake that sits in one of the nation’s most disputed watersheds, which straddles the California/Nevada border.

Judge C. Anders Homer ruled that the water authority is entitled to the same amount of water from Donner Lake as the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, which serves the agricultural interests of the farmers and ranchers in Fallon and Fernley, Nevada.

           
“The judge essentially approved what has been going on for years – the equal sharing of the lake’s water,” said Jeffrey Dunn, a Best Best & Krieger attorney who litigated the case for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.

           
The ruling preserves a critical water supply during drought years for 330,000 residents in Reno, Sparks and the surrounding area who are served by the water authority, said Stefanie Hedlund, a Sacramento-based attorney for BB&K and member of the State Bar of Nevada.

           
In addition, the water authority stores its share of Donner Lake water in Boca Reservoir, which prevents flooding at Donner Lake, an alpine lake at the base of Donner Summit. The lake and reservoir, along with Lake Tahoe, are part of the Truckee River Watershed, which serves as a key water supply for Northern Nevada.

           
The first lawsuit in the case was filed in 2006. At issue was a yearly average of 6,285 acre feet of water – the amount that is released from Donner Lake. The water authority claimed it had a right to 50 percent of the water.

           
The irrigation district, on the other hand, claimed it has a right to 100 percent of the water, depending upon the circumstances and time of year. The irrigation district further claimed that the water authority only had a right to use the Donner Lake water for non-consumptive uses, such as generating hydro-electric power.

        
"The saying recently attributable to economic conditions in Russia applies here, 'What is mine is mine and what is yours is negotiable,” the judge noted in his ruling.

        
The debate stemmed from a 1943 operating agreement in which the water authority’s predecessor, Sierra Pacific Power Company, and Truckee-Carson Irrigation District entered into an agreement concerning the operation of the dam at Donner Lake.

        
The judge, after listening to 12 days of testimony beginning last October, said that, due to changes in regulations and the use of the water, the only fair choice is to keep the water divided equally among the two parties.

        
“Whether by intent, blind luck or otherwise, the parties have exercised a virtual 50-50 division of the water right for at least the last 14 years and probably longer,” he wrote.

        
The judge also found that the water authority, as a co-tenant, has a right to partition the stored water in Donner Lake.

        
“There is nothing unfair about granting partition here. … What would be unfair is the notion that TCID gets all the water and TMWA, as successor to SPPC, only gets water for hydroelectric purposes other than in the summer.”

The judge issued his tentative ruling on Feb. 8 and made it final on March 22. A notice of entry of judgment was filed with the court on July 7.