Water banking pits urban against agricultural in California's Central Valley

The New York Times reports today from Bakersfield, California under the headline, "Storing Water for a Dry Day Leads to Suits." The rural angle is principally an agricultural one. Here's an excerpt about residential water users who began to experience water shortages last summer:

They blamed water banking, a system in which water-rights holders — mostly in the rural West — store water in underground reservoirs either for their own future use or for leasing to fast-growing urban areas.

So the neighbors’ small local water utility has gone to state court to challenge the wealthy farming interests that dominate two of the country’s largest water banks.

Viewed as test cases for the size and scope of water-banking operations, the lawsuits claim that enormous withdrawals of water by the banks lowered the water table, causing geological damage, service disruptions and costly repairs.

The Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District is the plaintiff, suing the Kern County Water Agency.