California Water, Land, and PeopleMonterey Agreement • December 14th, 2000
Renewed public scrutiny awaits a little-known agreement negotiated quietly in 1994 by six water agencies and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to inaugurate California’s statewide water market and restruc- ture the State Water Project in the wake of a Sacramento Third District Appellate Court decision on September 15, 2000. The Court found the compact’s environmental impact report (EIR) defective.1 The Court also opens to further legal challenge DWR’s transfer of a giant groundwater aquifer called the Kern Fan Element (KFE) to the Kern County Water Agency.
