Multiple sessions discussing California’s water management took place over the first week of September, focusing attention on state regulators and pressure points faced by California agriculture.
The second annual Agriculture Summit at Fresno State came just days after the California Legislature met its deadline to get bills to the governor's desk, leaving behind a measure that would have expedited access to flood flow for groundwater recharge.
Co-hosted by The Maddy Institute and the California Water Institute, the program dedicated panels to water storage, data collection and 10 years of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), culminating in a discussion on building connections between parties to find solutions to competing water interests.
“Twenty years from now, what are the changes that we're going to have to incorporate to continue to be the No. 1 agricultural state in the nation?” asked Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., in his welcome speech. “How are we going to balance our needs of a reliable water supply, a reliable workforce and trade policy that we can focus on to continue to be competitive?”
During the first panel on moving and storing water, Molly White, assistant division manager for water resources at the State Water Project, shared updates on the long-awaited Sites Reservoir. She mentioned the project would be ideal for dry year reliability and would accommodate an additional 1.5 million acre-feet of water, making it the second largest off-stream reservoir in the state.
The State Water Resources Control Board toured the proposed site on Monday and Tuesday, making stops at pumping stations in Red Bluff, Orland and Maxwell. SWRCB public information officer Ailene Voisin said the board is unable to comment on the tour, but wrote that the purpose of the visit was for board hearing officer Nicole Kuenzi and board members to “see the relevant physical features and infrastructure for the proposed project.”
Panelists swiftly chimed in on the length of time it's taken to push forward the state’s reservoir projects, including expansion of the San Luis Reservoir. When asked about how long it's taken to plan the Sites Reservoir, White said they’re in the “decades realm.”
“I think what we're going to see going forward is figuring out ways to really enhance these facilities [to] maximize their use, operate them differently,” said panelist and Water Wise President Sarah Woolf. “It's going to take all aspects … to better regulate how we manage those dams and utilize the water, and we need to be far more aggressive than we have been to date on utilizing those technologies.“
On the subject of groundwater recharge, Woolf acknowledged the need for wildlife protective measures — such as fish screens — on major rivers but was critical of their use in flood diversion infrastructure.
State Board of Food and Agriculture President Don Cameron agreed that obtaining an appropriative water rights permit for infield recharge through the State Water Resources Control Board is near impossible, revealing that a number of these requests have sat on the board’s desk since 2019.
Woolf said that if not for Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2023 executive order allowing the Bureau of Reclamation to divert over 600,000 acre-feet of floodwater for underground storage and recharge, “all of the recharges that occurred in 2023 would have never happened.”
Acknowledging an ever-changing climate and the probability of future weather extremes, Cameron called for change with how the state water board processes applications: lower costs, faster processing and better reliability.
“But, somehow, I don't think that's going to happen,” Cameron said, later complimenting the Department of Water Resources for their continued collaboration, contrasting with SWRCB, which he said has “very little transparency.”
In his keynote, California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot reiterated points made about regulatory pace, particularly in reference to flood water. He called on environmentalists and farmers to meet in the middle.
“I also want to be candid with you: the federal Endangered Species Act is a 60-year-old law and it's not going anywhere, regardless of who's the next president, and so we need to find a way to meet our environmental standards, federal and state, and strengthen our water reliability for the Central Valley.”
A panel on the impacts after 10 years of SGMA led farmer Kevin Herman into dialogue with SWRCB Office of Sustainable Groundwater Management Director Samuel Boland-Brien over how he, as a farmer, feels he's taking the brunt of monitoring groundwater pumping, asking if future pressure will be applied to encourage surface irrigation districts and municipalities to monitor their own usage.
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Boland-Brien responded by talking about the “integrating effect” of SGMA over the state’s groundwater management portfolio. He pushed back on the idea that only undistricted areas have an obligation to follow local GSPs.
“There's this need to work together on those issues and make sure that municipalities are coming to the table with producers and working on the solutions,” he said. “So I can't say exactly how it's going to work out in each basin, because there's different makeup and different kinds of drivers of water use and development. But that is kind of part and parcel with local control.”
Two days following the summit, Republican members from the House Committee on Natural Resources and Central Valley districts held a Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries hearing on California’s water supply and current federal regulation.
Meeting 20 minutes northeast of the San Luis Reservoir in Santa Nella, Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., and Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., chair of the Subcommittee, led the hearing before six witnesses. They were joined by Reps Vince Fong, Doug LaMalfa, Tom McClintock and David Valadao.
Democrat members were notably missing. Subcommittee staff director Rachel Gentile wrote to Agri-Pulse that members were unable to attend due to schedule conflicts. She did not immediately respond to a request to hear Democratic members' perspectives on the hearing.
The day’s witnesses included Friant Water Authority CEO Jason Phillips, Westlands Water District General Manager Allison Febbo, Turlock Irrigation District External Affairs Director Josh Weimer, VP of Harris Ranch and Chair of the California Water Alliance William Bourdeau, water attorney Ronda Lucas and South Delta Water Agency General Counsel and Manager John Herrick.
Sentiment from both members and witnesses criticized state policy for being overtly political, relying less on available science and instead conceding to “misguided environmental extremists,” according to Duarte.
Witnesses brought up the 2019 biological opinion that was popular among Central Valley Republicans during the testimony and questioning, saying that no further BiOps were necessary and that recent efforts to reevaluate the opinion have further stunted the state’s water management.
Phillips testified that “without regulatory reform to stop the uncontrolled, unending taking of California water supply,” there would be “no amount of new infrastructure, recycling efficiency or any other form of water supply development that can bring us to a place of abundance.”
He added that he believed the 2019 BiOp was the “first time in the last three decades a regulatory change would’ve improved water.”
Following the hearing, Bordeau told Agri-Pulse he was encouraged that members took a flyover tour of the water system to see infrastructure firsthand, but was “discouraged” federal agencies chose not to attend.
Offices of the representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who were invited to testify did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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