Besides the battle over protecting wildlife, the drought has brought up legal issues over paid water rights.
In what is often a complex maze of rules, rights vary from state to state. In California, it's basically allowable for towns and farms to withdraw water from the surface, ground or rivers for a reasonable and beneficial use—sometimes without restrictions.
That has led to lawsuits over who has full control of the rights and legal attempts to reduce water usage as well as divert water sources.
Florida doesn't have that problem. In the 1970s, laws were changed so that no one owns the water, not even farmers, said Chip Merriam, vice president of legislative and regulatory compliance at the Orlando Utilities Commission, in Orlando, Florida. That has led to a somewhat less complicated system of water allocation in drought conditions, Merriam said.
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"We've taken the idea that there's no value in overusing water, or we won't have it in the future," he said.
Despite an average rainfall of nearly 60 inches a year, the Sunshine State has seen its share of droughts. That's caused water use restrictions at times and arguments over allocation, Merriam said.
But the idea behind non-ownership of water rights has led to less in-fighting among the various users and better use of the resource.
Merriam added that other state officials have talked to him about what Florida's doing but so far, they "have not jumped on our model."
"It's hard to give up something like water rights once you own them," he said.