Decades Of Water Rights Litigation Put To Rest

A North County water rights dispute that had been stuck in federal court for decades was officially put to rest last week, along with part of an even older case.The two settlements were included in a larger package of water resource and infrastructure legislation approved earlier this month by the House of Representatives and the Senate, then signed Friday by President Barack Obama. One case involved a 1951 three-pronged lawsuit over water rights to the Santa Margarita River that at one time had nearly 7,000 defendants.