Concerns over groundwater quantity and quality have reached new heights, with headline after headline warning of an impending catastrophe. But often missing from the traditional narrative is an accounting of how the law has failed groundwater.

This Essay argues that the law has not only failed to address groundwater problems but exacerbated them. Groundwater law is inherently limited by its tethers to the past—past common law doctrines, past science, and past governance structures. These limits have made groundwater law stubbornly resistant to change, sustaining the groundwater crisis. California is a case in point, illustrating how groundwater law’s limits inhibit progress. Addressing our groundwater problems thus requires rethinking groundwater law with an understanding of its limits.