SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California judge has approved the nation's largest farm-to-city water transfer that ends a decade-long dispute over how to divide the state's share of water from the Colorado River.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly on Wednesday affirmed his tentative ruling in June that upheld a 2003 agreement between the Imperial Irrigation District and the San Diego County Water Authority.
The deal was challenged in court by environmentalists, government officials and some farmers, who argued the water transfer to San Diego accelerates the demise of California's largest lake, the Salton Sea.
The water from the Colorado River serves as a major source of drinking water and farming in California, six other Western states and much of northwest Mexico.
