water to ranches is a big deal. Family ranch part-owner anon can vouch. We had wells on our property for years. In the 90's, water co. came in and put a meter on the water we are drilling, at our cost, from our own land. We pay for the water we pump….
it's Cali. They need to "protect" everything. Had to pay to have land checked for endangered snail to have lot lines adjusted. Thank God they didn't find and native American arrowheads while they were looking. No digging, no roads, just lines on a map. We wish we could move the whole ranch out of state….
the cute thing is, the three "creeks" on our land have been dry for 30 years unless there's a downpour, but those '"creeks", per the county maps, give them such rights…