California regulators are supporting a controversial plan backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom — and opposed by environmental groups — that would give water agencies more leeway in how they comply with water quality rules.
The Newsom-backed approach is included as part of a proposed water plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, released by the State Water Resources Control Board on Thursday.
The plan would give water agencies two potential pathways to comply with water quality goals — either a traditional regulatory approach based on limiting water withdrawals to maintain certain river flow levels, or an alternative approach supported by the governor in which water agencies, under negotiated agreements, would make certain water flow commitments while contributing funding for wetland habitat restoration projects and other measures.
The proposed plan is intended to protect native fish species and the ecosystem through water quality standards and flow objectives for the Delta and San Francisco Bay.
Major water agencies have lined up to support these so-called voluntary agreements, which Newsom and his administration have touted as a solution to break away from the traditional conflict-ridden regulatory approach and improve the Delta’s ecological health.
Newsom called the plan “a testament to California’s commitment to a collaborative, science-driven approach to managing our water for the benefit of our communities, economy, and fish and wildlife.”
The proposed plan, developed by the state agency’s staff, will now go through a public comment process, and will eventually go before the five-member state water board for a decision on adoption. Members of the board are appointed by the governor.
Environmental and fishing groups, as well as leaders in Delta communities, have argued that the voluntary approach would harm the estuary’s deteriorating ecosystem and fish species that have suffered dramatic declines.
The Delta draws together rivers from a vast watershed and flows toward the San Francisco Bay. On the south side of the Delta, pumps operated by the state and federal governments send water flowing to cities and farms.
Eric Oppenheimer, executive director of the state water board, said the proposed update of the water quality plan would “improve conditions for fish and wildlife through a combination of flow and habitat measures while considering the needs of cities, towns and farms.”
Oppenheimer noted that the state water board would track agencies’ commitments under the voluntary agreements, which have also been called the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program.
Under the draft plan, state officials would review the voluntary agreements after eight years to determine if they should be extended, modified or terminated. The board could decide to return water agencies to the traditional regulatory approach if they determine the voluntary agreements haven’t achieved the desired results.
“We included the voluntary agreement pathway because we think the voluntary agreements have merit,” Oppenheimer told reporters during a briefing. “The basic concept behind these voluntary agreements is that by combining both flow and habitat, we think we can achieve significant ecosystem improvements, and we think it can be done with a lower water supply impact.”
Oppenheimer said state officials believe this approach will “engender a high degree of cooperation and buy-in from the water users.”
Environmental and fishing groups have condemned the agencies’ proposed voluntary agreements as backroom deals struck without input from Native tribes, Delta communities or conservation advocates. They have said that by failing to protect existing flows, the agreements are aimed at setting the stage for massive additional water diversions.
Newsom and his administration are pushing for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project, seeking to build a 45-mile water tunnel beneath the Delta, and are also moving ahead with plans to build Sites Reservoir, the state’s first new major reservoir in decades, in a valley north of Sacramento.
Ashley Overhouse, water policy advisor for the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife, said she is very concerned about the state board’s approach.
“This is just the latest attempt by the Newsom administration to promote the woefully inadequate and inequitable voluntary agreements, undercutting bare minimum protections,” Overhouse said. “The proposal to cut freshwater flows through the Delta during wet and dry years will be devastating for species and the overall health of the estuary.”
Overhouse and other environmental advocates argue that the voluntary deals struck by major water suppliers would be disastrous for threatened and endangered fish, including salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, longfin smelt and Delta smelt. They have called for more stringent flow requirements to help populations recover.
This year, populations of Chinook salmon were so low that regulators shut down the commercial fishing season along the coast for a third straight year, though limited recreational fishing was allowed.
The state water board “seems to be collapsing under pressure from the governor to approve the fatally flawed voluntary agreements,” said Scott Artis, executive director of Golden State Salmon Assn., a nonprofit group that represents fishing communities.
Artis said the voluntary approach would worsen the environmental crisis in the Delta and set the stage for “even more damaging diversions by the massive Delta tunnel.”
His group has also criticized the $2.9 billion in proposed funding that would be needed to carry out the agreements, much of it from state and federal funds. The group has called it a “shell game” and a “taxpayer rip-off.”
The update of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan has been years in the making. The last substantial changes in water quality and flow requirements were adopted in 1995 for much of the watershed. In 2018, the State Water Board released new standards to increase flows in the San Joaquin River.
The pending update will set rules for the Sacramento River watershed and the rest of the Delta.
The State Water Resources Control Board plans to hold a public hearing on the draft plan Sept. 8-9, and will be accepting written comments until Sept. 10. A date for a decision by the board has not been set.
The proposal also calls for establishing tribal “beneficial uses” of water in recognition of the connections between Native tribes and fish populations. There are over 100 tribes in the Bay-Delta watershed. State officials say this designation would not guarantee tribes a certain volume of water but would ensure that cultural uses of water, including for fish species, have protections under the plan.
Wade Crowfoot, the state’s natural resources secretary, said the approach outlined under the plan will “improve the health of our rivers by both restoring river flows and revitalizing habitat.”
Newsom noted that he has also proposed legislation to create an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act for all such water quality plans. The governor said this would “accelerate the time it takes to get these critical plans done by removing unnecessary and redundant process requirements.”
