Key San Joaquin water district quits statewide association
Matt Weiser
Sacramento Bee
02/24/2010
Westlands Water District, the powerful farm irrigation agency in the San Joaquin Valley, has quit its membership in a leading statewide water association. Spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said Westlands quit the Association of California Water Agencies because of budget priorities. She denied rumors the split was related to a policy disagreement. Westlands' ACWA membership cost about $19,000 a year, Woolf said. Westlands, the nation's largest farm irrigation district, is engaged in several high-profile lawsuits against wildlife protections in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is choosing to focus on those efforts, Woolf said.
"We just have to be very strategic on where we put our resources right now," she said. "We are in a lot of court cases, and that's not cheap."
