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Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Arthur L. Littleworth WATER LAW ATTORNEY AND RIVERSIDE CIVIC LEADER With an introduction by Robert B. Maddow An Interview Conducted by Germaine LaBerge and Ruth Langridge in 2002-2004 Copyright © 2005 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Arthur L. Littleworth, dated March 10, 2004. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Arthur L. Littleworth, “Water Law Attorney and Riverside Civic Leader,” an oral history conducted in 2002-2004 by Germaine LaBerge and Ruth Langridge, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2005. Copy no. ______ Arthur Littleworth, 2000. TABLE OF CONTENTS—Arthur L. Littleworth Parts of this online transcription have been restricted by the interviewee. WATER RESOURCES PREFACE i INTRODUCTION by Robert B. Maddow iii INTERVIEW HISTORY by Germaine LaBerge v WATER RESOURCES ORAL HISTORY SERIES LIST vii Interview 1: March 19, 2002 [Tape 1, Sides A & B] 1 Childhood and family background—British immigrant parents—Growing up in L.A.— Encouragement from teachers to excel—High school leadership positions—Influence of Father Stuart from Grace Episcopal Church—Winning Pacific Coast Regional Scholarship to Yale University—Changes in Southern California—Construction work with father and other jobs— Beginning of World War II, 1941, rally of students on campus—Discharge from marine reserves because of eyesight—Signing up with navy—Writing thesis for Professor Thomas Mendenhall—Postwar graduate work at Stanford in history, choice of future career. Interview 2: December 16, 2003 [Disc 2] 17 World War II background, Pearl Harbor Day on Yale campus—Wartime atmosphere, joining marine corps reserve—Intensive German class—Writing prize-winning senior thesis on Oliver Cromwell’s invasion of the West Indies, research at the Huntington Library—B.A. degree, Yale, 1944—U.S. Navy service in the Pacific theatre, 1944-1946 as teacher, radioman, and captain’s yeoman on U.S.S. Currituck—Homecoming, 1946. [Disc 3] 32 Impact of World War II experience—Considering State Department work and teaching—M.A., Stanford University, 1947, with other veterans—Meeting Evelyn at Grace Episcopal Church, L.A.—Time magazine article on Yale Law School—Marriage and move to New Haven/Hamden, CT—Yale Law School experience, 1947-1950—California Bar Exam and a tight job market— Decision to settle in Riverside, with Best Best & Krieger—Early legal work in all fields—First water rights case, Fallbrook, 1961-1965 [Disc 4] 50 More on Fallbrook, a political lawsuit: the United States defending water rights of marine corps at Camp Pendleton vs. users in Santa Margarita watershed (downstream vs. upstream users)— Working with Adolf Moskovitz, Judge James Carter, USGS—Discussion of riparian rights, physical solution, ranchers’ wells, and U.S. Attorney Bill Veeder’s handling of the case. Interview 3: December 17, 2003 [DISC 5]57 Anecdotes of Fallbrook case: Erle Stanley Gardner (author of Perry Mason stories) representing himself—Ranchers of the Temecula-Murrieta area—Federal court’s continuing jurisdiction of judgment re: water rights—Rancho California Water District acquires Vail Dam and reservoir, 1970s—New U.S. case, 1990s, for modern day conditions, cooperative modeling, management agreement on pumping restriction upstream for safe yield of basin—Pachanga Tribe’s water rights—Early community activities in Riverside: Kiwanis, Junior Chamber of Commerce, YMCA—Speeches on congressional procedures of McCarthy hearings, 1950s Interview 4: February 3, 2004 [Disc 7]87 Governor’s Commission to Review California Water Rights Law, 1977-1978: aftermath of drought of 1976-77—Charge to the bipartisan commssion by Governor Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown, Jr.—How appointed—Senator Robert Presley’s influence—Background of members, including former Chief Justice Donald Wright, Ron Robie, John Bryson, Tom Zuckerman, Stanford Law School Dean Charles Meyers, Arliss Unger, Ira Chrisman, David Hansen—Commssion staff, headed by Professor Harrison Dunning— No address of federal water law nor “area of origin” statutes nor water supply projects. [Disc 8]104 Five staff reports, basic subjects for consideration: groundwater management through adjudication and statute in southern California—Hearings throughout the state: water community (agriculture and urban), environmental community—Economists suggest market solution by pricing—Professor Frank Trelease re: court adjudication of all water rights—California water rights law both unique and complex—Historical view, including miners’ rights, overdraft of groundwater—Instream uses protected by Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, CEQA, Endangered Species Act, Bay-Delta standards—Mention of special master duties—Four areas of commission report: efficiency, certainty, instream uses, groundwater—Focus on certainty—Different legal theories re: appropriative rights: first in time-first in right, or mutual prescription—Justice Wright’s decision in Los Angeles v. San Fernando distinguished by footnote on equitable apportionment—State Water Resources Control Board’s purpose—Mention of EBMUD v. EDF suit and Judge Hodge. Interview 5: February 4, 2004, morning [Disc 9]123 More on how the governor’s commission functioned, no bloc voting but compromises— Riparian rights—Governor’s press conference at time of completion—No follow up to report without strong leadership in governor’s office or legislature—Governor Pat Brown’s influence and accomplishment in State Water Project & Master Plan, 1960s— Failure of Peripheral Canal (Duke’s Ditch), 1982—Bay-Delta standards—California business leaders support state-federal program, CAL-FED, 1990s—Littleworth’s water philosophy: necessity of long-range planning: additional storage—Conservation—Water planning distinguished from energy crisis—Amendment, 1928, to Ca constitution requires reasonable use—Groundwater management concerns—The State Water project—Water transfers—Instream uses, best experts in the West disagreeed on data. [Disc 10] 138 Recommendations: initial management would be local control of water with state backup (from State Water Resources Control Board and attorney general)—Department of Water Resources’ mission—Data gathering, managers of State Water Project, hydrologic and geologic descriptions—State Water Resources Control Board, adjudicatory role: permits, water quality control, Regional Water Quality Control Boards under SWRC—Riverside’s Mission Inn, history, art and architecture, Mission Inn Foundation and saving the inn, 1970s-1990s. Interview 6: February 4, 2004, afternoon [Disc 11] 155 Representing East Bay Municipal Utility District in EBMUD v. EDF et al—History of EBMUD’s water sources—Twenty years’ litigation on contract with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for American River water—Trial, 1984-1990—Arthur Littleworth and firm set simple themes: there is enough water for all users; more water is not always better for fish; water quality paramount—Various experts on water treatment, health—Invocation of the public trust doctrine and the “physical solution”—How one readies for trial and how the trial proceeded—Judge Hodge and trying the case in Hayward—Anecdote on testimony of hydrologist Phyllis Fox, the tule queen. [Disc 12] 172 More on Phyllis’s theories based on original journals; Delta requirements and CAL-FED— Littleworth’s opportunities to become a jurist—Ronald Reagan almost appoints Littleworth to UC Board of Regents replacing Philip Boyd—Appointment by the United States Supreme Court as Special Master on Colorado

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