The importance of water rights was affirmed in the California Supreme Court’s first major water rights decision since the 1983 landmark ruling on the public trust doctrine. This issue of Western Water discusses the 2000 ruling in City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency, a lawsuit stemming from a groundwater-pumping plan imposed on users within the Mojave Basin. The article provides an overview of the case, its background and history, the proposed physical solution, and what the Mojave opinion may mean for the Mojave Basin and the rest of California.