9th Circuit: Reasonable Use Doctrine Shields Owner from Claims Based on Dewatering Activity

Abbott Labs wanted to build a new basement for its manufacturing facility. To do so, it had to pump out a lot of groundwater. But this pumping depleted groundwater in neighboring property as well, where pecan farmers had maintained trees whose roots depended on a water level of about 16 feet. After the pumping, the water table was permanently suppressed to 32 feet. The trees died.
Relying in significant part on a 1935 Washington case, the Ninth Circuit recently held that the owner owed no duty of care to neighboring landowners.

The Court based its ruling, which vacated a judgment in favor of the neighbors, on “the common law doctrine of reasonable use” which “governs the use of percolating water” in connection with the development of one’s land.