San Diego County Water Authority managers will get their day in court more than three years after they challenged water rates set by the Metropolitan Water District.
The case will go to trial December 17.
The water authority argues that the region's largest water wholesaler, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is over-charging San Diego by millions of dollars a year.
The authority's Dennis Cushman argues that MWD illegally increased the cost of moving Colorado River water through its aqueduct. That happened after San Diego began buying Colorado River water from the Imperial Irrigation District.
"They are trying to recover from the water authority virtually all the money they would've recovered from us if we had continued to buy all of our supplies from Met," said Cushman. "That's not the case. We're buying significant supplies from other sources."
The case will be heard in mid-December, said Cushman. The water authority wants a ruling before the end of the year because MWD is due to set new water rates in 2014.
There are no settlement talks underway.
