Judge Dismisses Suit Over Reservoir Drainage
A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a suit by Azusa city officials who had complained that fish, birds and the region’s ground water supply are threatened by an experimental project that has drained a reservoir in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains.
U. S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts in Los Angeles said the case is dominated by state issues, not federal ones. Letts also said the case had no merit.
The Azusa City Council had been trying to block the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works from draining billions of gallons of water from the Morris Reservoir, a project aimed at removing silt from the reservoir.
The last of the water was drained out of the reservoir last week. County officials, pending toxicity tests of the reservoir’s muddy bottom, expect soon to release water from the San Gabriel Reservoir upstream and force 1 million cubic yards of silt from Morris.
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