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Officials fighting plans by the state to build two giant tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to send water south took their case to court Thursday, seeking to block one of the project’s main backers from finalizing a key land deal.

San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties say Metropolitan Water District of Southern California failed to perform environmental reviews before entering into a $175 million deal to buy sprawling delta islands east of San Francisco.

Just days after a powerful Southern California water agency announced it was spending $175 million to buy five islands in the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a coalition of opponents has sued to demand environmental review of the purchase.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in San Joaquin Superior Court by San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, the Central Delta and Contra Costa water agencies, and two environmental groups. It alleges the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California improperly exempted itself from the state environmental review process while the purchase agreement was being hashed out.

 

 

The San Joaquin River and its three main tributaries ranked second on a list of “endangered” streams released by a national group.

Water demand from farms and cities has sapped the San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers, says the annual report from American Rivers, based in Washington, D.C.

“Dams, levees and excessive water diversions have hurt river habitat and opportunities for recreation and community access,” says the report released Tuesday. “The river’s salmon and steelhead populations are on the brink of extinction.”