The Metropolitan Water District will have to face a jury in a case that could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars unless it can reach a settlement by the end of the month, according to a judge’s ruling announced Monday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jane Johnson decided late last week that a case being brought against the regional water district by Cadiz Inc. would go to trial May 5 pending the settlement.

Cadiz, based in Los Angeles, sued the district in 2005 seeking up to $673 million in damages for lost business and revenues stemming from the agency’s October 2002 rejection of a water storage deal.

Cadiz had proposed to build water storage facilities underneath land it owns in eastern San Bernardino County where water from the Colorado River could be stored during wet years. A deal was reached in 1997 with the district that would have netted Cadiz more than $150 million over 30 years.

The U.S. Department of the Interior approved the project in August 2002, but the MWD board reversed itself and decided not to proceed with the program following an intense lobbying campaign from environmental groups,

In April 2003, Cadiz filed a claim against the water agency seeking compensatory damages, and a lawsuit in November 2005. Earlier this year, the judge dismissed a district attempt to have the case thrown out.

Cadiz praised the judge’s decision in a press release the company released Monday. A spokesman for the MWD said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.