Tuesday March 19, 2024
San Francisco Chronicle —
A state policy that seeks to protect California’s major rivers and creeks by cracking down on how much water is pumped out by cities and farms can move forward despite widespread opposition, the Superior Court has ruled.
The long-awaited decision on what’s known as the Bay-Delta Plan denies 116 claims in a dozen separate lawsuits that seek to undo a 2018 update to the policy, most of which are from water agencies saying the limits on their water draws go too far.
The 160-page verdict, released Friday by Sacramento County Judge Stephen Acquisto, specifically notes that arguments made by San Francisco against the regulation fell short. The city, which gets most of its water from the Tuolumne River in and around Yosemite National Park, has claimed that regulators showed preference for safeguarding fish and wildlife instead of defending Bay Area water supplies, ratepayers and economic growth.