KERN COUNTY WATER TRANSFER APPROVED.Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA - A judge Tuesday upheld water transfers from Kern County to Santa Clarita to meet the demands of growth. Superior Court Judge David Yaffe ruled that the Castaic Lake Water Agency could rely on 41,000 acre-feet of water as part of its State Water Project entitlement while it rewrites an environmental impact report on the water transfer. ``We are very pleased by the ruling because we utilize this water right now for the customers who already live here and have businesses here, and we have been since the transfer was effective in 1999,'' said Mary Lou Cotton, the CLWA's assistant to the general manager. The 41,000 acre-feet brings the CLWA's State Water Project entitlement to 95,200 acre-feet a year. This year, officials expect to use about 42,000 acre-feet. Friends of the Santa Clara River Santa Clara River may refer to:
CLWA Children living with AIDS (Lancaster, OH) from using the disputed water while the report was being redone re·done v. Past participle of redo. . ``It is a bad ruling,'' said Lynne Plambeck, first vice president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment. ``They can't redo To reverse an undo operation. See undo. the environmental study after new homes have come on line and use that water. The results will be skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data .'' Plambeck said the group was considering appealing Yaffe's decision. The CLWA has hired an environmental consultant to redo the report, and officials are hoping to start the process within the next few weeks, Cotton said. The environmental group filed suit against the water wholesaler, saying the CLWA failed to comply with the California Environment Quality Act, which requires EIRs for most construction projects. The CLWA had relied on information in the 1995 Monterey Agreement between the state Department of Water Resources and various State Water Project contractors permitting water-transfer entitlements between contractors. The CLWA used information about environmental impacts to Kern County in its own EIR EIR n. popular acronym for environmental impact report, required by many states as part of the application to a county or city for approval of a land development or project. (See: environmental impact report) regarding the transfer of 41,000 acre-feet of water to Santa Clarita. While this was debated, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five member governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district, the current members as of April 2006 are:
The project, however, will only require 1,600 acre-feet of the water transfer, officials said. Marlee Lauffer, The Newhall Land and Farming Company The Newhall Land and Farming Company is a land management company based in Valencia, California, United States. The company is responsible for the master community planning of Valencia, as well as the management of farm land elsewhere in the state. spokeswoman, said the developer is moving forward on obtaining water from other sources. ``It's a tremendous win for the community that they are able to continue to rely on this water that has been bought and paid for,'' she said. Staff Writer Heather MacDonald contributed to this report. |
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