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SACRAMENTO — State water officials are promising more water than they can deliver, a state appeals court has ruled. 

The Third District California Court of Appeal in Sacramento Friday dissolved an 1995 agreement that reorganized water delivery to cities and farms from the Sacramento River delta. 

The appeals court sided with critics of the agreement who say it would be impossible for the state to deliver the promised 4.23 million acre-feet of water. 

As a result, local governments have approved developments based on the water allotments that may never be delivered, according to the ruling authored by Justice Vance Race. 

It is unclear how the ruling will affect state water supplies or local development. The Department of Water Resources has not decided if it will appeal the decision. 

The State Water Project, approved 40 years ago, is a series of networks and canals that provide water to 29 contractors who then ship water to more than 20 million people and hundreds of farms. The project was thought to be able to provide the 4.23 million acre-feet of water. Only 60 percent of that is delivered today. 

Subsequent amendments to the project removed a requirement that the state reduce water entitlements if it can’t completely build the State Water Project. 

A water agency in Plumas County and two environmental groups sued over the amendment. They initially lost in Superior Court. 

Their success Friday means the state will have to do another study on the pact and possibly reopen negotiations on water deliveries.