The state has backed off on its plans to revoke county water rights to nearly 169,000 acre-feet of Salinas River water per year.
The Monterey County Water Resources Agency had been gearing up for an Aug. 13 hearing in Sacramento to defend the county's water rights, which the State Water Resources Control Board had been angling to take back, in keeping with the state's "use it or lose it" policy.
The county and state have reached a settlement, according to a July 2 letter to state water board members from their attorney, David Rose.
One condition of the settlement Rose spells out: canceling the scheduled Aug. 13 hearing.
The settlement agreement is still waiting on final signatures to become official, but people familiar with the agreement say the county gets to keep the water rights, which were first granted in 1957.
The county's Regional Advisory Committee, which convened earlier this year in an effort to lay out ideas for how to put this water to use, will continue meeting. The county has pledged $1 million a year for three years toward finding ways to use the water.
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