EDITORIAL: Water ruling is all wet

The head-swimming mix of law on water, contracts and government agencies wrapped up in Thursday's court ruling invalidating 13 contracts governing the Imperial Irrigation District and San Diego County Water Authority deal (and everybody else who signed the agreements) is enough to make the lay reader want to drown himself in the All American Canal.

So we're forced to rely on some simple common sense to make heads or tails of the decision. For starters, able to breathe a sigh of relief that the judge, even in finding against the contracts, has delayed the decision while an appeal is conducted. At least the water will keep flowing while the litigation grinds ever forward and the lawyers' bills climb ever higher.

The 52-page decision sums up what the court notes is more than 147 written rulings in various related cases and enough legal papers and administrative records to fill more than 350 CDs.

At the root of the court's objection appears to be what it sees as an open-ended promise by the state to cover cost of fixing the Salton Sea as water is moved from the Imperial Valley to San Diego instead of draining back into that basin. On that topic, the judge found that the state constitution prevented the government from pledging to "unconditionally" cover excess mitigation costs for the distressed water body. Studies have suggested that it may take as much as $15 billion to "save" the thing.

Once again, we're reminded of the folly represented by the modern response to the accident of the Salton Sea.

It was created this time around (there have been natural versions of it in past eons), when water accidentally breached a canal in 1905 and flowed into a depression 230 feet below sea level for a couple of years.

Unfortunately for all of us, the migratory bird population found it to be to their liking over the years, and it has become an important part of the flyway. But as the lake evaporates, the salt and toxic mineral content increases, making it unsuitable for the birds and fish. That prompts overreaching environmentalists to seek drastic measures to "save" the sea.

Since we believe a higher and better use is to move the water conservation in the valley (the essence of the deal) to the thirsty parts of San Diego County, we hope the appeal succeeds, the judge is overturned and the Salton Sea is ultimately left to dry up.