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Kern agency sues Fish and Game for water cutback

Posted by: Maven on December 12, 2008 at 5:44 am

From the Antelope Valley Press:

The Kern County Water Agency on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to stop a regulation issued by the state Fish and Game Commission that would further reduce the amount of water suppliers could draw from the California Aqueduct and the Central Valley Project.

If the action by Fish and Game is upheld, the water allocated to suppliers from the state Department of Water Resources could be reduced by as much as 1.1 million acre-feet in any given year — a situation that would prove detrimental to water purveyors, including those in the Antelope Valley, water officials say.

An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, the amount used by an average Antelope Valley family in a year.

Representatives of the Kern County Water Agency filed the petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to Curtis Creel, water resources manager for the agency.

In addition to the Fish and Game Commission, other defendants identified in the suit include the state Department of Fish and Game; Donald Koch, director of Fish and Game; the California Office of Administrative Law; and Susan Lapsley, director of the Office of Administrative Law, Creel said.

The lawsuit describes the regulation drafted by Fish and Game as a “catastrophic action” that reduces the water supply during a drought and “further harms our fragile economy and increases job losses in Kern County and the state, while doing little to protect the longfin smelt.

Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.

December 12, 2008 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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