The Merced Irrigation District Board of Directors, according to a news release, is taking legal action against the State’s recently adopted Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan and Substitute Environmental Document.
The Bay-Delta Plan SED was adopted in Sacramento on December 12.
The plan, according to the MID, will divert up to half the water flowing down the Merced River away from Lake McClure and instead send it north into the Bay-Delta.
The Merced Irrigation District Board of Directors stated its intent to aggressively fight the Bay Delta Plan SED in court, and gave staff direction to file the appropriate legal complaints.
“This plan is illegal and it is not scientifically sound. It relies on outdated data and false premises,” said MID General Manager John Sweigard.
Sweigard also says “The State Water Board has put our entire region’s survivability at risk.
The MID General Manager states “It is our belief the State Water Board lacks legal authority to modify water rights through the Water Quality Control Plan and has violated due process rights and failed to meet requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.
