Third parties sue over canal lining project

From ENR.Com:

By the end of May, California’s Imperial Irrigation District will award contracts estimated at $136 million for construction of a 50-ft-deep, 23-mile-long canal to replace parts of a canal built in 1942. It is the largest part of a $219-million program to eliminate seepage in the transport of Colorado River water to Southern California’s Imperial and Coachella valleys. Completion of the program is set for 2008....

Not everyone is excited about the project. A consortium of Mexican and California-based environmental and economic-development groups sued for deprivation of water rights because seepage would no longer recharge the Mexicali Aquifer. Seven of the eight charges were dismissed by U.S. Chief District Judge Philip Pro on Feb. 8 for lack of standing. The judge did not set a date to hear arguments on the validity of the environmental documents.

Construction on the All-American Canal will start in June and should be complete by December 2008. The $83-million Coachella Canal will be complete in April 2007.