Long ago there lived a fairy grandmother, fabulously wealthy beyond imagination. She owned the land and the sky, the rivers and rain, the sun and wind. She was mortal, as all things are, and she loved her grandchildren very much. So she resolved that none of her descendants should ever want for their basic needs.
She appointed trustees to manage her estate in perpetuity, and bound them and their descendants for all time. Her terms were simple: her children and children's children, and their descents until the end of time, were to receive sufficient food and shelter from her trust to keep them alive. With the excess income, the trustees were free to do whatever they pleased. Then she declared that any person upon that land may be a champion for her heirs.
One day, her great-great grandchildren awoke in a ditch with neither food nor shelter. When asked where their inheritance was, the trustees replied:
We don't know. We didn't keep records. The trust is gone. Go away, and die mad.
Those unfortunate children were unconvinced, but they were fish. Fortunate were they that though they had lost of the gift of speech, others would speak for them.
The estate left to protect those children is the public trust. Water Audit California is their advocate.