State Water Board Releases Draft Delta Water Quality Control Plan

It is no secret that the two major surface water supply systems that transport water from Northern California to the Central and Southern part of the state use the delta region as the “valve” through which that water passes. The delta is large, about 700,000 acres. It is the mixing zone between the fresh water coming from the two major rivers that drain the San Joaquin Valley and the Pacific Ocean.

The delta is the home of a number of native fish species that are protected as endangered, and it is also intensively farmed. There are many state, federal and local government entities that have overlapping jurisdiction governing activities in the delta. One of the most powerful entities is the State Water Resources Control Board which regulates all of the surface water running in and through the delta according to the Delta Water Quality Control Plan. The current plan was adopted in 2006 and is in the process of being updated. In October, the State Board released a draft of potential updates to the water quality control plan for public review and comment.

The major public water agencies are evaluating those proposals now and will soon communicate their thoughts. But the reality is that over the past 30 years, the plan carried out by the State Board, in conjunction with the state and federal agencies in charge of recovering endangered fish species, greatly reduced the surface water delivered by the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project to people and farms in Central and Southern California. Moreover, the endangered fish these water restrictions were supposed to save were not recovered. In essence we have the worst of both worlds – massive water and economic costs to people and farms and declining fish populations.

The California Constitution specifically outlaws waste of water and requires that water be put to beneficial use.

It is hereby declared that because of the conditions prevailing in this State the general welfare requires that the water resources of the State be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented, and that the conservation of such waters is to be exercised with a view to the reasonable and beneficial use thereof in the interest of the people and for the public welfare. Read the complete text of Article X, Section 2 here.

It is correct for the State Board to evaluate changes to the Delta Water Quality Control Plan. A lot of scientific work has been done over the past decade to discover the full range of factors that have led to declining native fish populations. Just sending more water to the ocean has not worked and doing more of the same is not a strategy for success. Fortunately, there is strong support for a different approach called the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes proposal. This proposal outlines many other actions besides just sending more water to the ocean that would greatly enhance the survival and recovery of the endangered fish. Hopefully, this approach can be embraced.

It will be important for those impacted by delta water policies to weigh in with the State Board as they evaluate the Delta Plan Update. For the San Joaquin Valley, reduced surface water deliveries led to greater reliance on groundwater pumping, which led to overdraft, which is leading to huge fallowing and financial impacts in our communities. The economic and social costs to the people of California as a result of the current delta policies must be part of what the State Board considers as they move forward in the process of updating the Delta water plan. The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley exists to make sure that needs of people, communities and farms are considered in these import decisions. You can learn more about the Blueprint here, and sign up to get on the contact list for the Blueprint here.