RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

November 2004

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California Court of Appeal Holds that Urban Water Management Plan Is Invalid for Failing to Adequately Address Perchlorate Contamination
Friends of the Santa Clara River v. Castaic Lake Water Agency

In an unpublished opinion in Friends of the Santa Clara River v. Castaic Lake Water Agency, the California Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District held that an urban water management plan prepared by the Castaic Lake Water Agency is invalid. The court held that the plan states that the water supply is contaminated with perchlorate and that although there is a plan for providing a substitute water supply from groundwater sources during dry years, and there is a plan for treating groundwater were it to become contaminated, there was no plan for providing a substitute for the groundwater supply while treatment processes were initiated. Currently, the agency is pursuing various options for addressing these issues.