Over a dozen California cities, water agencies and environmentalists sued the state late Tuesday, alleging that state regulators have been secretly plotting and discussing a contentious $16 billion water project. The petitioners, led by Sacramento and San Joaquin counties, have uncovered public records that they claim prove that State Water Resources Board staffers discussed technical reviews and other documents regarding the California WaterFix with the project’s lead agencies.

A storm out of the Gulf of Alaska will blow ashore in San Diego County late Monday, dropping up to 18 inches of snow on mountain peaks and up to three-quarters of an inch of rain in some areas at and near the coast. The system also will extend San Diego’s week-long cold spell. On Tuesday, the temperature won’t get above 57 degrees — which is almost 10 points below average. “It doesn’t look like the temperatures will get above 60 anywhere in San Diego County on Tuesday,” said Brandt Maxwell, a forecaster at the National Weather Service. “That’s including the desert.”

For years, San Diego has wanted to install 280,000 “smart meters” across the city. The goal was to improve meter accuracy, provide real-time data on water use and eliminate the need for human meter readers. That’s all behind schedule. In 2016, the city guessed it could complete the project by the beginning of 2018 at the cost of about $60 million. So far, the city has installed only about 90,000 meters that it considers “ready” to begin transmitting water use data. Of those, less than a fifth actually are.