WRD and the People of South Los Angeles County One Step Closer to Reliable Water Supply

Appellate court clears the way for a possible increase in local groundwater storage space

LAKEWOOD, Calif., Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) applauds this week's decision by the State Court of Appeal to fully reverse a 2010 trial court decision denying a motion to create a legally-certain framework for groundwater storage in the West Coast Basin.  

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The 2009 Storage Motion was in the form of a proposed amendment to a 1962 judgment that established groundwater extraction rights. The amendment would permit water to be stored and subsequently extracted under the Judgment. The trial court ruled it did not have authority to consider the motion to amend the original judgment until the moving parties had complied with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  The moving parties – WRD, Golden State Water Company, West Basin Municipal Water District, and the cities of Los Angeles, Inglewood, Manhattan Beach, and Long Beach, appealed the decision.

The appellate court this week published a decision holding that the trial court, in fact, has jurisdiction to consider the 2009 Storage Motion, and further concluding that CEQA does not apply to court motions, including the 2009 Storage Motion.  The matter will now be remanded to the trial court for a full hearing.

"The Appellate Court decision puts the region back on track to take advantage of groundwater storage," WRD President Sergio Calderon said. "Combined with the suite of local water supply projects under WRD's WIN program to eliminate the use of imported water for groundwater replenishment, groundwater storage projects undertaken by groundwater producers will assure a reliable and less costly water supply well into the future."

The full text of the ruling can be viewed at the following location:  http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/disposition.cfm?dist=2&doc_id=1945980&doc_no=B225058

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is the regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater for two of the most utilized urban basins in the State of California, with a service area that is home to over ten percent of California's population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County with a publicly elected Board of Directors including Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles.

For more information about the Water Replenishment District, please visit www.wrd.org.

SOURCE Water Replenishment District of Southern California

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