CALIFORNIA- The debate over the construction of two large tunnels to more efficiently move water from California’s Central Valley to the southern part of the state has taken another turn. A recent ruling by a Superior Court judge could delay the project and put Gov. Jerry Brown’s controversial $15.5 billion plan to build two tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in further jeopardy with a ruling that a comprehensive management plan for the estuary is no longer valid.

According to The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny ruled that “the entire Delta Plan must be ‘set aside’ until deficiencies he noted in an earlier ruling are fixed.”

At this point in time state officials plan to appeal.

Here is where the ruling complicates the issue- in order for the tunnels to be built, state officials need to prove that the project “complies with the recommendations laid out in the Delta Plan for managing land use and water exports in the fragile estuary.”

With recent hurdles and an appeals process underway, the already lengthy process could get lengthier.

Keith Coolidge, a spokesman for the Delta Stewardship Council, was also reported by The Bee as saying that the ruling could delay habitat restoration work and development protections that the plan calls for to shore up the Delta’s declining ecosystem.

Coolidge said in a prepared statement that, “The Delta remains in crisis, and now isn’t the time to set aside the state’s only comprehensive management plan.”

In 2013, the Delta Stewardship Council approved its plan with the goal of resolving years of conflict among environmentalists, farmers, anglers, and south-of-Delta water agencies, The Bee reports, over use of the estuary and how it should be developed, including the amount of water that could be exported.

One of the key requirements of the legislation was that the Delta Plan balance the “co-equal goals” of protecting the rich Delta ecosystem, and ensure stable freshwater supplies for the south state.

Enter the lawsuits, reflecting objections from most of the competing interests that depend on water from the Delta. Environmental groups voiced that the plan lacked the ability to force a reduction in reliance on Delta water, while those Delta agencies to the south that rely on that exported water reported that the Delta Plan did not meet the requirement for stabilizing supplies.

This ruling came on the heels of the report that Kenny dismissed most of those challenges. A 73-page ruling made available in May, noted that he denied most of the legal claims but did recognize some central issues of environmentalists.

Kenny said the plan fails “to promote options for water conveyance and storage systems” and he also found that the plan failed to “include quantified or otherwise measurable targets associated with achieving reduced Delta reliance” for California’s water supply.

Coolidge said the council already has been working to address those issues, and that the ruling to invalidate the entire plan was disappointing; these included the areas that seem to be without issues.

What’s next for the Delta Plan? Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we follow the appeal process.