AP is reporting this evening that a state judge in California has thrown out the 2003 deal by which California agreed to stop using so damn much Colorado River water:

A California judge has tentatively invalidated a landmark pact to curtail the state’s overuse of water and allow other Western states to claim their fair share.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Candee ruled Thursday in Sacramento that the state improperly agreed in 2003 to pick up much of the cost of saving the Salton Sea in southeast California.

Restoration of the dying Salton Sea is a key piece of the 75-year pact, which calls for Colorado River water to be shipped from desert farms to San Diego. The deal was aimed at reducing California’s long overreliance on the river.

The QSA set up the means for ag-urban water transfers to help get California down to its 4.4 million acre foot allotment of Colorado water. It also provided some hope for restoration of the Salton Sea, whatever that might mean in practice.

More background from the Riverside Press-Enterprise.