Environmentalists drop their appeal on water suit.
A lawsuit filed by the Friends of the Santa
Clara River and
the California Water Impact Network against the Castaic Lake Water Agency and
its subsidiaries CLWA Santa Clarita Water Division, Newhall County Water
District and the Valencia Water Company was settled Friday with a decision to
uphold the 2005 Urban Water Management Program (UWMP).
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According to a press release from CLWA, the plaintiffs
initially challenged the sufficiency of the UWMP analysis, questioning the
accuracy of future water demands and supplies. On June 25, 2007, Judge Dzintra Janavs found the claims to be
without merit and rules that the conclusions in the UWMP are supported by
substantial evidence and that the UWMP
identifies adequate supplies to meet future demands as well as the requirements
of the Urban Water Management Planning Act. The plaintiffs appealed the judge’s
decision.
With this settlement agreement, the plaintiffs agreed to
abandon that appeal. CLWA and the water purveyors committed to amend the 2005
UWMP upon the earlier of the following events: within six months after the
California Department of Water Resources obtains new State Water Project (SWP) take
permits for endangered fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and
issues a revised SWP Delivery Reliability Report or by the 2010 UWMP deadline.
Under the settlement, the management program will be updated
at its normal cycle in 2010.