SoCal beast awakens

The great beast from the Southland has awoken. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

As this column reported last year, Yuba City, Butte County and a few other State Water Contractors sued the Department of Water Resources, challenging the state's practice of reducing their water allotments in dry years.

Citing their "area of origin" rights, the plaintiffs want a Sacramento judge to tell DWR to "not deprive those in the area where water originates of the water they need when they need it," as their attorney noted in a recent court filing.

Area of origin was "the political deal struck that allowed Southern California interests to utilize water resources originating in Northern California to fuel their rapid growth, in exchange for a promise to forego some of that water when the slower developing Northern California communities needed it in the future," the Yuba City legal team noted.

Well, if Yuba City and the others don't have their allocations reduced, then the onus falls on the other contractors, most of whom are south of the delta. And that means, most prominently, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

So while Yuba City's lawsuit percolated along, it appears the other State Water Contractors weren't paying much attention.

Until now.

Met and 12 other water users have filed a motion in Sacramento County Superior Court to intervene because there's a lot at stake here.

Met and the others serve 23 million Californians and irrigate about 750,000 acres.

"Given the severity of the water shortages facing Metropolitan, any further reduction in its SWP supplies ... will irreparably harm both Metropolitan and the individuals and entities it serves, and literally threaten Metropolitan's ability to provide for even the most basic water needs within its service area," Met's lawyers say in their motion to intervene.

Lawyers representing Yuba City and Butte County don't object to the Met and its allies expressing an opinion, but they "should not be allowed to expand the scope of the litigation."

Met and its allies raise "doomsday pleas regarding diminished water supplies," Yuba City's lawyers say, in what is essentially a breach of contract lawsuit against the state.

Don't breathe too deeply

If you remember last June, it was awfully smoky. More than 200,000 acres in the North State went up in flames.

How bad was it? The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in a report this month, said measurements of particulate matter (bad stuff in the smoke) were "among the highest values reported ... since data have been collected for PM pollution in these size classifications. These observations raise concerns about the potential health impact of exposure to high levels of wildfire PM, as the possible health effects associated with these acute exposures to PM from wildfires at these very high levels are not understood."