Courts side with water boards on two water quality cases

SACRAMENTO — In separate cases January 26, two appellate courts issued decisions allowing the state to pursue programs necessary to protect streams, rivers and beaches from trash and urban runoff. A Court of Appeal based in Riverside unanimously upheld the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board’s storm water permit for San Bernardino County. A San Diego-based Court of Appeal threw out nine of ten challenges to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s landmark trash reduction plan.

The two opinions are just the latest in a series of recent court decisions upholding the wat...