by Gale Courey Toensing, Indian Country Today, 06.18.2010

In a June 7 hearing, San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith Hayes ordered the Padre Dam Municipal Water District to avoid construction on around two-thirds of the two-and-a-half acre site where it is building a new reservoir and pumping station. The restraining order extends to June 25.

Attorneys for the Viejas Band sought the restraining order against the Padre Dam Municipal Water District to halt construction until the matter is decided by the Native American Heritage Commission.

On June 17, the commission will continue a hearing that began in April and hear testimony from both sides. If the commission finds that the site is a sanctified cemetery that will be harmed or destroyed by the water project, it will issue recommendations to mitigate damages or even avoid the site altogether.

The water district is building the reservoir as part of a second pipeline system to the district’s eastern service area. The existing pipeline is 50 years old and would leave 30,000 customers without water if it broke, according to water district officials.

Although the new pipeline would benefit the Viejas Band, protecting the tribe’s cultural patrimony is essential and the entire site must be surveyed before further disturbance occurs, Viejas Tribal Chairman Bobby L. Barrett said...........read more