by Professor John H. Minan

The River has played an important historical role in the development of San Diego. It has been a traditional source of water supply to an arid region. The indigenous people in the San Diego area have used the River as a water resource for millennia. During the Kumeyaay Period (8000 B.C.–1769 A.D.), the Kumeyaay lived along the banks of the River for at least ten thousand years. 10 Village sites from this period include, among others, Cosoy and Nipaguay, located in Mission Valley, Sinyeweche in Santee, and Sinyau-Tehwir and Witlimak at the headwaters of the River. During this period, tribes lived in harmony with the River and drew sustenance from its natural bounty.

The California courts did recognize, however, municipal water rights to the San Diego River based on the historical doctrine of “pueblo water rights,” which includes the right to use the surface water, as well as adjacent groundwater, that runs through the former pueblo from its originating source to the ocean.

The San Diego River was at the center of a landmark pueblo water rights decision by the California Supreme Court in 1930. In San Diego v. Cuyamaca Water Co., the court applied the doctrine to a claim by the City of San Diego as the successor of the Mexican Pueblo of San Diego.

*To return, click here (Historical Indigenous Knowledge) or here (Rocks & Sediment)