WATER PLAN MIGHT NEED REVIEW DELIVERIES MIGHT BE CUT, THREATENING DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

The agency overseeing the state's largest source of fresh water might have to review its water distribution plan after an appellate court ruled that it failed to consider cutting water deliveries to Southern California.

Though further appeal is expected, the Oct. 7 decision as it stands could be troubling for the Santa Clarita Valley, where state water deliveries make up more than half of current available supply.

The California Bay-Delta Authority, known as CalFed, was created five years ago to protect the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta while ensuring that Californians who depend on its water for irrigation and home use have their needs met.

But the Sacramento judges who wrote the 3rd District Court of Appeal decision said that the environmental document the agency relied on to set its current course was too narrow in scope. It did not examine the possibility of pumping less water out of the delta to growing subdivisions and thirsty farmland to the south, the judges wrote.

The state's population is projected to grow from about 37 million today to 49 million by 2020, with half that increase in Southern California. CalFed assumed it had a duty to meet that need and didn't consider the alternative, the opinion said.

``If there is not water to support the growth, will it occur as projected?'' the ruling said. ``As the state reaches the limit of available water and must seek other sources such as desalination, water will become more expensive to obtain and California's appeal will lessen.''

The delta is the heart of California's water wars. It feeds cities in the north and the State Water Project, which delivers water from the Sacramento and Feather rivers to thirsty, growing Southern California subdivisions and acres of farmland in the Central Valley through the massive California Aqueduct. The maze of canals and marshes also sustains a dwindling population of endangered fish and other wildlife.

Defendants in the lawsuit include CalFed, irrigation districts relying on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta, urban water agencies in Southern California and others. They said it's too early to know if revisiting the agency's environmental impact study would mean a decrease in water exports to homes and farms.

State and CalFed authorities are still reviewing the court's 224-page decision. But other defendants played down the ruling's relevance.

``Whether or not it'll have an impact in the long term remains to be seen,'' said Tupper Hull of the Westlands Water District, one of the defendants.

Mary Lou Cotton, spokeswoman with the Castaic Lake Water Agency, which oversees state water deliveries, said the ruling is under review. She does not anticipate any immediate impacts on water deliveries.

Of the 112,000 acre-feet in Santa Clarita Valley water supply the agency tallied for 2005, more than 65,700 acre-feet comes from State Water Project the aqueduct. (An acre-foot is the amount of water required to cover one acre one foot deep - or 325,851 gallons.)

``We're still reviewing the decision along with all the other water agencies in the state,'' she said. ``We're assuming it's probably going to be appealed.''

But the environmentalists and delta area farm groups that brought the suit said this was an opportunity to do more for the fragile ecosystem's deteriorating health.

``The court clearly called a time out in the headlong rush to export more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta,'' said delta advocate Bill Jennings. ``It's fascinating to think of an alternative with less exports in light of the catastrophic crash of aquatic life in the delta.''

The agency's goal is to balance both demands - but ``the commitment to fixing the delta has been pretty shallow,'' said Dante Nomellini, attorney for the Central Delta Water Agency and a number of other plaintiffs. ``We want to get them the water they need, but leave the northern part of the state whole. Let's not destroy the rivers here in the process.''

It's a sentiment shared by Lynne Plambeck, a Newhall County Water District board member who has criticized local water policymakers for relying too heavily on state sources.

``A lot of us have said this was a complete fallacy to begin with,'' said Plambeck, also president of Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment. ``The idea that we can just go to Northern California to get water all the time - it's not correct. ... Our water supply is going to be really stressed.''

Plambeck believes preserving properties along ground waterways from development and conservation could help wean the region off state water.

``The CLWA has been saying that water flows uphill on money,'' she said. ``Water is a finite public resource. We have to realize there is a problem. I think people are starting to realize that.''

Barbara Dore, also a member of the Newhall water board, said agencies should more aggressively seek out other sources to meet demand.

``It means we should have to be more diligent in diversifying water program,'' said Dore, also a CLWA board member. ``The more different sources you have that are depending on different variables, the better off you are.''