CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : BAY AREA : Utility Wins Right to Use River Water

The 17-year legal battle of the East Bay Municipal Utility District to draw drinking water from the American River near Sacramento apparently has ended with a victory for the utility. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Hodge issued a revised “preliminary decision” granting the utility, which serves 1.1 million people in Oakland, Berkeley and parts of Contra Costa County, the right to take 150,000 acre-feet of water a year from the American below Folsom Dam, 22 miles east of Sacramento. Hodge ruled, however, that the amount of water taken must be limited in dry years.