[bradleyjg]

5th Amendment-- "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The fifth amendment technically only applies to the federal government, but the fourteenth amendment due process clause has been held to "incorporate" the just compensation clause against the states. The due process clause also has direct implications for eminent domain under the procedural due process cases.

With an auction system, I don't see any reason to subsidize anyone at wholesale. Environmental "use" (i.e. not letting rivers run dry) would be, and should be, considered when setting the total withdrawal permits. Given relative demand, it is highly likely that the market clearing price would be such that it would make up only a very small portion of the total retail cost to urban end users, the bulk of those costs are in purification and delivery. If anything I expect wholesale costs to urban water districts to go down. Whether or not state or local government should subsidize potable water delivery to (poor) end users is a separate issue.

Finally, I don't see what's either laughable, ugly, or demonizing about stating the facts of the matter plainly. California agriculture makes up more than 80% of California's annual water consumption. The shortfall due to reduced precipitation is far less than that.