A battle involving water, and endangered steelhead on the Central Coast made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before ending in a victory for environmental groups trying to protect the fish.
The fight was over the release of water from Twitchell Dam. The reservoir is in Southern San Luis Obispo County, and Northern Santa Barbara County. It holds more than 220,000 acre feet of water. It supplies water to the Santa Maria Valley, as well as playing a key role in flood control efforts.
Environmental groups argued that not enough water was being released from the dam to support the endangered steelhead population.
A coalition of environmental groups sued the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Santa Maria Water Conservation District in an effort to increase water releases. The District manages the dam, and controls releases into the Santa Maria River, which is important steelhead habitat. The high court declined to hear the case, in effect letting a lower court ruling in favor of the environmental coalition stand.
