Water districts managing about 90% of the water passing through the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta are supporting a set of voluntary agreements championed by the Newsom administration. But the unprecedented effort has faced steady blowback from environmental, sportfishing and tribal interests, while state agency staff have raised potential roadblocks to its success.
The State Water Resources Control Board is reviewing an extensive 6,000-page report developed by staff to assess the many options on the table for updating the agency’s contentious Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. Last week it held the first of three full-day hearings to run through detailed presentations from staff, stakeholders and advocacy groups. Staff plan to issue their final recommendations to the board in mid-2024.
One option in the report is to commit 55% of all freshwater flows to run unimpeded through the Delta.
Under the Brown administration in 2018, the board approved a controversial update based on unimpaired flows. But outrage from water users compelled Gov. Gavin Newsom to remove the board chair as soon as he took office and pursue a set of voluntary agreements —rebranded last year as the Healthy Rivers California alternative—that promise a more modest, though sizable, boost in flows in combination with habitat restoration for vulnerable fish populations.
Agricultural and water interests see the voluntary agreements, known as VAs, as offering a reliable funding pool for habitat projects while carefully balancing farmland fallowing—with about 35,000 acres anticipated to fall out of production in the Sacramento Valley as a result.
Environmental interests involved in the early development of the agreements have dropped out of the discussions and are instead pushing for a return to the top-down regulatory approach. In the hearing Friday, advocates urged the board to go beyond the 2018 plan and implement at least a 65% unimpaired flows standard for the Sacramento River.
John McManus, a senior policy director at the Golden State Salmon Association, noted that the salmon season was closed this year and alerted the board that the low returns to spawning grounds this fall will likely lead to another closure next year. Spring-run salmon, meanwhile, will soon move from a threatened classification to the endangered list, he predicted. He urged quick action from the board, adding to a chorus of calls to restore natural flows.
“The governor has failed to deliver on promises to produce a VA that addresses the issues facing the Bay-Delta,” said Caty Wagner, a policy advocate for Sierra Club California. “This proposal is driven by special interests.”
Wagner seized on comments made earlier in the hearing by Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the State Water Contractors. In her presentation to the board on the progress of the VAs, Pierre acknowledged the lack of tribal and environmental interests, but said the door remains open.
Jamie Johansson, California Farm BureauThat drew further concerns from board member Laurel Firestone, who said Pierre’s vision for the VA process is to be inclusive, “but it hasn't been yet.” Firestone argued that the VA parties should not just ask tribes to contribute their traditional ecological knowledge but create a seat for them within the decision making process.
“I am very serious about wanting the inclusion of that knowledge and also the expertise,” said Pierre. “I will take responsibility for botched invitations to the process. But I will also say that we've left voting seats in the governance open.”
She said the VA parties have not completed the governance plan because they want tribes at the table to help finalize it.
Pierre described the governance proposal as the most exciting component of the VAs. Delta water managers must be nimble in responding to climate change and “weather whiplash,” such as the swing from drought to floods this year. The governance component creates a unique forum for managers across the watershed to have a dialogue about the tradeoffs and opportunities in those decisions and to learn from each other.
Pierre hopes to expand outreach with the board and the public as well, with annual and triannual reports offering opportunities to share the progress being made along the eight-year timeline of the VAs and to put everyone on the same page—which is a “major hurdle” for Delta interests.
Pierre recognized the governance structure is aspirational at this point and that it has never been attempted on a Delta-wide scale before. The VA parties have modeled the approach on other watersheds and are working with a consultant who has a track record of engaging with tribal governments.
Yet more than a decade of effort to construct the VAs could be undermined by components that water board staff have included in their report, according to Pierre. She said some of those modules could be complementary to the VAs, while others “can be pretty disruptive” to the delicate balance within the proposal. She stopped short of detailing the issues, since her organization is still in the process of formalizing its position on the staff report.
Cut through the clutter! We deliver the news you need to stay informed about farm, food and rural issues. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse here.
The sweeping implications of a Bay-Delta Plan update have led farm and business groups to take a direct role in the board’s deliberations. California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson testified at the hearing that the Healthy Rivers alternative is “the best option” for the state.
“It's a reasonable, comprehensive approach that balances essential and competing beneficial uses of water,” said Johansson. “There's broad consensus that only dictating more water to fish isn't enough to support healthy fish populations.”
He said a flow-only approach would come at a great cost to farms and cities. He lamented that “every faction in California water relied on its own science” and celebrated the shared-science approach in the VAs.
“If the science shows that the Healthy Rivers isn't working as we expected, we can change course,” he said. “This alternative allows for that.”
Brenda Bass, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, said the VA alternative would support agriculture, the economy and the environment, while providing more certainty for regulated entities.
“Businesses are increasingly concerned about water insecurity and rising water rates, each of which compound other factors that are making California less affordable to the average person,” said Bass. “Unimpaired flow requirements would only serve to make these problems worse by creating additional scarcity.”
Improving water reliability would also help companies that support agriculture as well as industries not directly associated with water quality concerns, such as developers modeling water availability for new housing projects, she said.
The board’s approach and leadership style will send an important signal to all Californians, according to Jonnalee Dunn, who manages 60 acres of almonds in Dunnigan. She said the locally led implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act inspired trust and collaboration, while the alternative favored by environmental interests was a command and control regulatory approach.
“While it might seem effective on the surface, can this type of action truly produce meaningful change?” she said. “If trust is eroded and there's little buy-in from districts and water users to be part of the solution, can it truly lead to lasting results?”
For more news go to Agri-Pulse.com.
