AGENCY SUED OVER KERN WATER PLAN WATCHDOG GROUP SEEKS TO BLOCK ACQUISITION FOR 11,000 NEW HOMES.Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, -- A watchdog group has sued the Castaic Lake Castaic Lake is a lake on Castaic Creek formed by Castaic Dam, in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, near the town of Castaic. The 323,700 acre foot lake (399,000,000 m³) is the terminus of the West Branch of the California Aqueduct, though some comes from the 154 mi² Water Agency over a plan to buy water from the Kern River Kern River A river rising in the Sierra Nevada of eastern California and flowing about 249 km (155 mi) south and southwest to the southern San Joaquin Valley. . The California Water Impact Network seeks to block the agency from implementing its deal with two Kern County entities to acquire enough water for 11,000 homes. ``Where is this water coming from that's going to be transferred? That's what we're asking,'' said Dorothy Green Dorothy Green is the a founding Director of the California Water Impact Network. She served on the statewide board that directed the fight to stop the Peripheral Canal when it was on the ballot in 1982. , board secretary with the California Water Impact Network. ``It's not there; it exists on paper, not in reality.'' The environmental organization sued the CLWA CLWA Chip-Level Weibull Analysis CLWA Children living with AIDS (Lancaster, OH) late last month in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit is just the most recent legal attack from environmental groups against the CLWA, which has spent $6.4 million fighting litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. from environmental groups since January 2000. The Water Impact Network says this latest lawsuit is meant to protect Kern County farmers and the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. watershed, which the organization argues will be damaged if the newly acquired water is used to support urban sprawl. Before signing off in October on the deal with two storage districts in Kern County, the CLWA revised its environmental assessment for the water acquisition to address questions from environmentalists. But the agency's board ultimately went forward with the deal, which would cost the CLWA at least $5 million a year. CLWA General Manager Dan Masnada said one aspect of the lawsuit challenges the deal on the grounds that it will harm the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. But the agreement has nothing to do with that delta, he said. ``They've just misconstrued the facts,'' Masnada said. ``Either they don't understand the nature of the acquisition or they don't want to understand the nature of the acquisition.'' The CLWA's deal to acquire Kern River water allows the Kern County entities involved to substitute water from the State Water Project. The Water Impact Network has taken issue with the CLWA's use of more water from the State Water Project, arguing that moving water over the Tehachapi Mountains to increase supply to Santa Clarita is harmful for the environment. It takes massive amounts of energy to move water over the mountains. In addition to working with the Water Impact Network, Green is founding president of Heal the Bay Heal the Bay is a U.S. environmental advocacy non-profit organization based in Santa Monica, California. Heal the Bay is dedicated to protecting California's Santa Monica Bay, a region of the Pacific coast encompassed by Malibu's Point Dume on the north and the Palos Verdes . She said the CLWA has shown little regard for the environment. ``If any other alternative was available to us to enforce the law we would be using it,'' she said. ``Lawsuits are a last resort, always a last resort.'' alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5253 |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion