District Ordered to Do Reservoir Impact Study
A judge has ordered the Irvine Ranch Water District to prepare an environmental impact study of its San Joaquin reservoir.
Defend the Bay, a Newport Beach environmental group, filed a lawsuit in January challenging the water district’s plan for the reservoir, which until 1994 was used to store drinking water. Damage from a landslide has kept it empty since then.
Orange County Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald said in his ruling that the water district did not fully consider the environmental effects of a project to convert an empty reservoir to a reclaimed-sewage storage facility.
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